Sam Mould Painting

Finding Venice (2012)

Multiple Rocks from UK, FR, CH, IT.

(17 x 14 x 12cm)

Finding Venice -The Cairn was accepted for the Jerwood Prize 2012.

Finding Venice is an abstract line drawing made over the course of 18-20days cycling a solo pilgrimage of 1,416miles from London to Venice. This cairn of rocks traces that journey as memory of an event.

By deconstructing and re-uniting surfaces and objects it forces oneself and the viewer to look at things differently. In Finding Venice, drawing is considered an abstract map of a journey through space and time, drawing then is not only a trace; it explores the possibilities of becoming. The current context is the dissolution of hierarchies, decentralisation and plurality.

The rock: a completely tangible article, which relentlessly surrounds us as an intangible landscape. A landmass, a territory, a piece of time, a source of pigment.

Every rock was carries in memory of hardship as a definitive aspect of pilgrimage. The rocks map the journey and they themselves were posted back to the UK. Each rock has a specific location written upon it from where it was collected. The route was indirect and it seems vital to meander and get lost a little when embarking on a journey of this type.

By moving through the landscape in this fashion past, present and future feel connected.

The Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 is the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK. Judged by an independent panel of selectors; Stephen Coppel, Curator of the Modern Collection, Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum; Kate Macfarlane, Co-Director of The Drawing Room, London; and Lisa Milroy, Artist and Head of Graduate Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, the Prize aims to explore and celebrate the diversity, excellence and range of current drawing practice in the UK.

From its beginning, the Jerwood Drawing Prize has championed the breadth of contemporary drawing in the UK. From a submission of almost 3,000 entries, the selectors have brought together an exhibition of 78 works from 73 artists. The shortlist includes established artists as well as relative newcomers and students fresh from art college. The selected works are exhibited at JVA at Jerwood Space, London from 12 September – 28 October 2012, and will then tour to venues across the UK including the new Jerwood Gallery, Hastings and mac, Birmingham.