Borrowed Scenery

In Borrowed Scenery Anne Kay explores abstracted landscape motifs within the framework of an expanded notion of drawing and mark making. This includes a literal interaction with the picture plane, in the form of tearing, crumpling, burning (brûlage) and smoking (fumage) of the paper. In another work the surface for the work is sculpted to form an undulating ground for the drawing.

The notion of a borrowed scenery comes from a Japanese idea of shakkei, (which Kay recently came across), a concept of incorporating background landscape into the composition of a garden, for instance, offering a glimpse of a mountain through a gap in the trees. In shakkei, the view of distant forms surrounding the garden are brought into the garden’s overall design, enhancing, and expanding the visitor’s overall experience.

“With this body of work, I hope to similarly bring into the work the viewer’s own encounters with mountains and terrains to open out their experience of my work.”