36 x 36 cm | 14 x 14 in
Subject: Objects / Still Life
Tags: Bananas, Yellow
Original drawing in coloured and graphite pencil on paper.
Alfie Van Veen's observational drawings catalogue the passage of time - or, more specifically, how time is expressed through space. Producing repetitive drawings whose only differences are the age of their subjects, his output is akin to a scientific study, whilst functioning at the same time as a meditation on change. Absorbed by the ordinary process of ages undergone by organic matter such as fruit and flowers, these pieces bend the boundaries of what we might consider a 'still life', perhaps a 'still death', or 'changing life' might be more apt. Evidence of change is written in brown spots, wilting, ordinary chemical and biological processes themselves becoming at once the object of study and a way of measuring time - one that is measured not in days, but in its own evidence.
Richard Waring, Course Leader BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree BA MA SFHEA:
'This impressive series of drawings indexes the effects of time and light on familiar domestic objects. The meticulously disciplined drawings document the temporal scales of entropy in organic and man-made materials.'