JAMES DRINKWATER

ARTIST STATEMENT

S . D . A . O . T

May this message find you

Across the chop and spray of the sea

Under rudders and on the backs of old fish

In the wake of a ships bow

And let it land somewhere in the sand

Where images leave from your tiny hand

The contours of your imagination

For one day you will also leave

Now currents are here to broom the shore

And so do our drawings vanish

Starfish in our brains

Little boats across our plates

“When I talk about the ‘other tropes’ in the exhibitions title I'm partly talking of continuing the tradition of artists in France, namely Picasso, drawing in the sand as not only a romantic notion and as a way to activate the imagination of kids, but also in a restless sense of always finding a way to keep working, to keep the mind and hand active. My life is given it’s value by my proximity to the sea, so yes at the risk of being Post Ironic, I too make drawings in the sand when I’m down at the beach with my family. Anyway I’ve shared some videos of site specific things I made and documented whilst traveling because it occurred to me that Pablo drawing in the sand at Antibes isn't really that different to someone like me stacking televisions in the street years later in Berlin. I'm certainly not comparing myself to Picasso, I wouldn’t be so stupid but what I am doing is making a correlation in terms of practice, process and an unwillingness to stop working. I hope you like them...”

James Drinkwater 2022