Small (oldish) works on paper

What’s on the label is exactly what’s in the tin: thirty-odd, small, oldish works on paper, roughly chosen across two periods between 2004-6 to 2015-16, and never conceived with the purposes of exhibition in mind. But here we are in post-ish Covid 2023 with a small show of small works on paper presented in RO9’s aptly fitting ‘small room’. A lesser known element of my practice, drawing has always been and remains an integral act within my process. Like threads around a maypole these small artifacts often circulate and accrue syncretically over large swathes of time, and in that circularity are often abandoned and returned to. A process whereby things slip in and out of focus; where layers and sediments are built up and razed intermittently; and words, gestures, forms and figures are added or erased months, years or decades later. While some contain the seeds of gestation that have led elsewhere, mostly they are simply done for their own sake and the immediacy and freedom that drawing permits me to explore over more physically (and conceptually) demanding aspects of my work, particularly with installation.

–Newell Harry, 2023