Joanne Hummel Newell

Jo Hummel-Newell's works traverse the line between control and chance. In making her work the artist attempts to remove conscious thought from her decision making process, trying to keep her work as random and un-thought as possible. The difficulty in doing this brings a tension to her images, asking whether it is possible to create a work that has not been composed. Bringing her work further into the realms of chance she uses found images which fall onto the page and create the structure of her compositions.

Kate Grenyer, Aspace Gallery

My work is concerned with collage and the immediacy of spontaneous drawing. I’m fascinated by handwriting, children’s scribbles and telephone doodles and I strive to maintain this kind of spontaneity in my own work. Pasted found notes or manuscripts are occasionally employed because of my anthropological interest towards mark making. Collecting printed and handwritten ephemera is an important part of my creative process and this often dictates the subject matter.
Obsessive mark making, Spontaneity, accident and embracing the 'naive line ', are all continual themes in my work. This playful approach allows me to explore the endless possibilities of composition, a nod towards my interest in the formalities of constructivism and the Russian Avante-Garde.
Snippets of photographic imagery and text are surrounded by hand made marks and line drawing suggesting a personal response to stories and narrative. These ‘drawing collages’ are best compared to the pages in a book, constructed from detailed marks and materials imploring a need to be held and viewed intimately.

This approach is repeated in sculptural form, Embalmed in what was once readily to hand, the figurines are shrines to societies short-lived fancies and disposable items.
Touched by another’s hand, the objects transcend their material nature and a narrative appears. I decorate and wrap the figurines like mummies and then place them on book pillars to elevate them. An ornamental end to the books, magazines, catalogues and receipts which are quickly being replaced by the digital.