Cynthia Barlow Marrs SGFA

Papered Over No. 1

Acquired by Freshfields in June 2024

Selected for the 2023-2024 Freshfields exhibition of artworks on paper
100 Bishopsgate EC2P 2SR

Papered Over No. 1 was on show in this prestigious in-house exhibition at the London headquarters of the international law firm Freshfields, with 90 works of art on display for twelve months over eleven working floors. The exhibition is organised by the specialist art consultancy Art Acumen, who work with private collectors and corporate clients to curate collections and stage exhibitions.

No. 1 was one of two new large monochrome drawings featured in my solo exhibition 'Pale Grey Castle' at The Old Court artspace, Windsor in the summer of 2020. It marked the beginning of a new direction for my art.

I had been looking for a way to combine my love of layers, grid structure, mark-making and patterns. As I cast an eye around the studio for the paper best suited to this project, I remembered my stash of uncut A1 litho-printed pages from my Windsor Emporium Sketchbook.

In 2013 I had commissioned Vision Litho to design and produce The Windsor Emporium Sketchbook, a small limited edition book of drawings I had made over the course of a year under the chandeliers of Windsor's historic Guildhall. My subjects were the visitors and vendors of the Windsor Emporium, a monthly artist-and-artisan fair featuring handmade and collectible goods. Thus began my habit of returning to the same location, month after to month, to draw for hours at a time.

Using the surplus printed sheets from the Windsor Emporium Sketchbook project, I cover a page with marks in ink and pencil so that all that remains of the printed imagery is an impression of something more under the surface. It's a time consuming process, and as the new drawing grows and covers the older sketches, I think about past and present, and the way all that has gone before influences what we do today.

Original
Ink, pencil and charcoal on litho-printed paper
50cm x 52.5cm

Papered Over No. 2

Exhibited in 2021 at the Mall Galleries in London, as part of the Society of Graphic Fine Art Centenary Exhibition.

Now in a private collection.

Original
Graphite, ink and cut papers on litho-printed reproduction
23.5cm x 31cm
Sold

Papered Over No. 2 in the studio

Graphite, ink and cut papers on litho printed paper
24cm x 31.5cm
Sold

Papered Over No. 3 in the 2021 ING Discerning Eye exhibition

Original
Graphite on litho reproduction
30cm x 15.5cm

Papered Over No. 3

This series had its debut in 2020 with Papered Over No. 1 in my solo exhibition at the Old Court artspace in Windsor. No. 2 was on show the following year at the Mall Galleries in London, in the centenary exhibition of the Society of Graphic Fine Art.

If you look closely at No. 3, you can see the ghost of an earlier sketch peeping through. In this series I draw over litho-printed reproductions of my own sketches with new layers in pencil and, in some cases, charcoal and ink. By the time the new artwork is complete, all that remains of the printed imagery is an impression of something underneath.

So far in the series I have used grids and patterns to create new layers. But the sketch reproductions beneath them began life as freehand line drawings I made on site in Windsor’s historic Guildhall. In No. 3, for example, you can just about make out one of the stained glass windows I drew in the Ascot Room.

No. 3 was selected for the 2021 ING Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London.

Original
Graphite on litho reproduction
30cm x 15.5cm