Very pleased the ‘PS’ has been selected for the 170th Annual Open at the Royal West Academy in Bristol, opening this Saturday. The exhibition will continue until 14th January 2024.
‘PS’, collage (newspaper cuttings on canvas), 61cm x 61cm, 2021.
The starting point of this work was Picasso’s handwriting, specifically a letter from Picasso to his friend/administrator Sabartes. Aside from it being in Spanish (and I don’t have any aptitude for any other languages), the writing is fairly indecipherable but does convey a certain restless energy. I wasn’t really interested in the content of the correspondence, but rather wanted to use its quality as a drawing. I have manipulated the letter both digitally and manually, flipped and distorted, then sketched onto canvas. The structure is further broken down during the making.
Lost in translation…
Simon Leahy-Clark 