Fragments of a Method
2020-2024
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Fragments of a Method is a durational drawing project and analogue dataset. Between 2020 and 2023 I drew and described 5,279 things from my studio, guided by three rules: 1) embrace mistakes, 2) avoid new purchases, 3) bypass value judgements and quantifiable information. Using pencil, biro, and felt-pen I modelled, in 700 pages of drawing and 1531 unique descriptions, what goes on when a dataset is created.
The things I depicted are (for the most part) mundane: scraps of wood, unfinished experiments, buttons, plastic bags, and assorted strange things (a dead moth, an apple core, a crash barrier). They were leftover, found, donated and accumulated over many years, for possible use in future artworks. I drew them in books assembled from cast-off and repurposed paper, stitching the loose pages together before drawing to mitigate the temptation to discard mistakes (as tearing out a page would cause a book to disintegrate).
My drawings are gestural, created with fast-drawing and blind-drawing techniques that are typically used as warm-ups and often produce unexpected results. Miniature colour-fields which record the colour of each thing as closely as possible are the most 'accurate' information, yet also the most abstract. Descriptions use language as a drawing tool, noting likenesses and textures quickly and (importantly) leaving out some information.
Subverting generally accepted measures of quality, the ‘data’ I created acknowledges ambiguity and incompleteness, letting go of the idea of accurate representation. It suggests that understanding (whether through drawing, language or data) is a creative act. It is porous, layered and always in progress.
‘Fragments of a Method’ was exhibited at NorthArt, Auckland, in 2025.
Note:
'Fragments of a Method' is the analogue presentation of this drawing project. For the digital iteration, in which you can view the entire dataset, see BitParts