For several years, I’ve been interested in the tension between accident and control, as manifested in both paintings and works on paper.

In these collages, I am assembling a random collection of elements (found printed material from numerous sources, including photographs, technical drawings and diagrams) into a rambling linear growth that resembles the smaller diagrams contained within.

Each element in the collage has a strictly visual, and occasionally uncanny, connection to the next; my working system depends on optical phenomena rather than a literal reading of “meaning”, taking only formal appearance – shape, line, color, etc. – into consideration. This transparent process of placing one element after another, until I run out of room or images, is evident in the overall composition and often results in some interesting accidental relationships within the piece.

Sharon Lawless
2007