Art In Motion
Photography by Louis Petruccelli
Have you ever watched a ballet or beautiful dance performance and just wished you could capture the energy, the movement, or at least tuck a tangible snippet away that you could frame and enjoy anew every time you saw it? We were fascinated to learn about Charlie Ford and his captivating work which unites the art of dance with the tangible art of drawing. Using charcoal to record the movement and gracefulness of dance, Charlie's work is a must-see. Below he shares his thoughts and how his process has evolved.
Art. Motion. The combination of the two. This concept came from the personal dissatisfaction I was having with moving/dancing at the time of my studies. The daily process of entering the studio, taking class, and then simply leaving for another class was never enough for me. I always wanted to stay behind and discuss with class mates some of the processes we undertake as dancers; such as the spacial consumption of the moving body, whether we could retrace and remember physical sensations from the class, and how this idea could be voiced outside of the dance spectrum.
Visually documenting human motion became a necessary action and a vital tool for me to discover further knowledge about my body as a dancer. The internal conversation between movement and visual documentation felt as if it gave me further knowledge on what I could do to improve physically, but more importantly, develop choreographic maturity, research and direction. As an artist I have always drawn, and when this idea of documenting became important in understanding my practice, mark-making/drawing seemed a natural visual output.
I aim to question what the two mediums have to offer to each other; meanwhile enjoying the freedom to move with drawing mediums on the body, and discover alternative approaches to drawing.
“Visually documenting human motion became a necessary action and a vital tool for me to discover further knowledge about my body as a dancer. ”
MORE ABOUT THE CHARCOAL MOVEMENT
As a performance artist, Charlie Ford has presented drawing installations throughout London, as well as Sweden, Australia and the Czech Republic. He has just finished up a week long exhibition at Arts Depot in London, an interactive drawing installation in which he completed seven drawings throughout the week opening the space up to observers to come and draw in the gallery. Keep up with his work here as he is soon to be in Melbourne and at Oxford University in May.