Lineage
Charcoal on French cotton paper
160 x 113cm
Sanctum
Charcoal on French cotton paper
160 x 113cm
Ghost
Charcoal on French cotton paper
160 x 113cm
Vigil
Charcoal on French cotton paper
160 x 113cm
Within
Charcoal on French cotton paper
160 x 113cm
Refuge
Charcoal on French cotton paper
160 x 113cm
The Making of Wild Hearts
Form
Every drawing begins with observation rather than symbolism.
The challenge is not to compose a heart, but to recognise one already present within the natural arrangements of bodies protecting bodies.
A curve becomes shelter.
Negative space becomes connection.
The weight of one form gives meaning to another.
Each composition is refined through balance, proximity and restraint until the relationship itself becomes visible.
Why Charcoal
Charcoal is one of humanity’s oldest artistic materials, connecting contemporary practice with a tradition of image-making that stretches back thousands of years.
Its simplicity is also its discipline.
Every mark remains visible. There is no colour to distract and no paint to conceal a decision. What remains on the paper is the record of observation itself.
Each drawing is completed entirely by hand over several hundred hours. Through the accumulation of thousands of individual marks, structure gradually becomes atmosphere, and form begins to feel almost sculptural.
Scale
Every original is created at 160 × 113 cm on Arches Aquarelle Hot Press, a museum-grade, 100% cotton paper selected for its archival permanence and exceptional ability to hold fine charcoal detail.
Scale is not used to make the work feel larger. It allows the viewer to experience it differently.
From across the room, each drawing is read as a single monumental form. As the distance closes, that presence dissolves into thousands of individual marks, textures and subtle shifts in tone.
The work continually moves between the monumental and the intimate, rewarding viewers who choose to spend time with it.
Restraint
The compositions are deliberately minimal.
There are no landscapes to describe place.
No colour to direct emotion.
No unnecessary narrative.
Only form, light and the relationships between them.
Meaning is not prescribed. It is discovered.
