‘Trace’ – William Macilraith
5 May 1995 — 25 June 1995William Macilraith’s new wall drawings are kaleidoscopes of fragile chalk lines that converge to form large-scale motifs of great simplicity and strength.
Drawn directly on to the walls of the gallery, the dense saturation of emanating pigment-loaded lines are suggestive of energy emissions and scanning procedures. Collectively the lines form dynamic drawings evocative of organic structures: cross-sections through cells and microscopic elements, as well as diagrammatic blueprints and architectural aesthetics.
The size of the wall drawings is not arbitrary but is informed by the scale of the gallery. The seductiveness of the pigment as a medium takes the viewer beyond the geometric shape of each form and encourages an ambivalent interpretation of each image.
Wall drawings have a liberating impermanent life. At the close of this exhibition they will be painted out, left to exist only in the memory of the viewer.
The framed works on paper complement the exhibition. They explore the component parts of the large abstract forms of the wall pieces and suggest ever more complex structures for future wall drawings.