Critically Reflexive Observations (C.R.O.)

Exhibitions/Events:
Urban Studies, Ove Arup Gallery, Manchester

Date:
2002 – 2010

This diagrammatic approach to drawing was extended by applying it to a broader range of experiences of the world.

Critically Reflexive Observations (C.R.O.) were drawings produced over a number of years in response to a variety of interactive encounters. These exploited a drawing structure based on simple Venn diagrams as a way of engaging with the progressive complexity associated with any analysis of personal reflections on direct experiences of the world.

Urban Studies involved the application of this C.R.O. strategy to the specifics of an area of a derelict, urban space – the Farmer Norton site in Salford. This process was developed more academically into an arts-based investigative study into the developmental potential for this site leading to the production of a collaborative research paper with Paul Haywood and Karen Lyons.

Cobra Mist was a collective title for a number of paintings and drawing studies that were originally inspired by a visit to Orford Ness in Suffolk, and an experience of the top secret Cobra Mist experimental communications site located at the northern end of the island. This initial experience was then developed into a much broader reference to the Cold War in the 1960s. The portrait genre was utilised for the first time with the reference to images of CIA leaders from the 1960s – Sidney Gottlieb and Frank Wisner.