Jenny Purrett
Newcastle
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Descartes talked about the eyes as tools for feeling the tactile textures of the world and for Jenny Purrett, drawing is about 'touching with the eyes.' The physicality of the produced mark as well as the idea that this mark is a kind of contact between artist and subject is central to her work.
Drawing is fundamental to her practice. She uses it to attempt to pin down that which cannot be pinned down. Aware that it is an activity which both separates and connects us to the things that surround us, she uses drawing as a record of seeing and of being: a shared existence in time and space between herself and her surroundings.
This desire for connectedness is what links her drawing and installation work. Interested in the inter-relationship of culture and nature, people and their environment, many of Jenny's installations are affected by viewers' interaction and will only last for the duration of an exhibition. 'The work's assimilation back into the environment is fundamental to its meaning, as a reminder that seasons and opportunities pass. I enjoy watching how a piece evolves once it has been handed over to the audience. I want people to have a visceral response to my work rather than a purely cerebral or visual one.'
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