Time had moved over and accumulated upon the
surfaces of this place
in such a way as to render it enchanted.
Objects could be reinvented in guises that spoke of
their origin
and destruction; rock into sand, sand into glass,
glass returned to rock.
A place in which some strange poetry has settled; a
garden as night is falling. [1]
I interviewed Claire Bayliss this week to discuss the form that her practice takes and her thoughts about being included in Jerwood Encounters: Surface Noise. She described how ‘my practice is rooted in an experience of landscape, and relies on the invention of an imaginative location of time … the landscape that I associate with the work is not the monumental, majestic nature that is intrinsically linked with the notions of the sublime and transcendence, but is conditioned by a quieter non-specific ‘English’ landscape.’ [2] The notion of the archaic landscape permeates her work, as she explores how rock is a repository of time, a marker, and a record of time past. Watch this video of the interview to gain further insight into Claire Bayliss’ printmaking practice.
[1] Claire Bayliss, poem written in response to Neolithic/extant, 2010.
[2] Claire Bayliss, artist statement, 22nd February 2011.
