The year 2014 marks the , making it the largest and longest running annual open exhibition for drawing in the UK. For the first time in the history of the prize, the award has gone to a sound artist, Alison Carlier, for her 1 minute 15 second audio work entitled Adjectives, lines and marks, which she describes as 鈥淎n open-ended audio drawing, a spoken description of an unknown object鈥. Carlier speaks to Aesthetica about how she won a drawing prize with a sound piece and her admiration for the other nominated artists.
A: You won a drawing prize with a sound piece 鈥 how did you do that!?
AC: By entering it into the competition! Sound isn’t usually associated with drawing. I think the strength of Adjectives, lines and marks, lies in the type of text that’s used. It’s sourced from a reference book where the purpose is to catalogue findings from archaeological digs (Roman Southwark settlement and economy: excavations in Southwark 1973-91 Museum of London Archaeology, 2009); the language used needs to be richly descriptive, visual and precise to represent the artefact. The text charts the object as your eye might when studying a detailed observational drawing; describing tone, materiality and form. The words used are reminiscent of drawing materials; black crumbly shards of charcoal or dark dusty conte. The affect on the brain is the same as in a visual drawing, only the information is received by listening rather than looking.
A: You trained in drawing and fine art, how did you move into sound work?
AC: When I get really interested in a subject, I have an annoying tendency of always wanting to take it to its absolute edge; an edge that I can peer over to see whether there’s any definition. I find from this edge I can elastically ping back and then see the subject with more clarity.
A: What does it mean to you to win the Jerwood Drawing Prize?
AC: I am really delighted to have won the prize. It’s a prestigious prize, but further than that, I feel I’ve been given a nod by people who know and understand contemporary drawing; which is great.
A: Your work is exhibited with a range of other artists, which of their pieces particularly stood out to you?
AC: I particularly like Kate Sollohub’s loose charcoal drawings. I like seeing something almost recognisable in a picture, but having the space to make up my own mind. I think Jonathan Huxley’s work has a similar affect, only with narrative. It’s not clear what the two dark figures are doing in relation to the car. It’s called Breakdown; which of course has multiple meanings. I also like Alan Hathaway’s impossibly light watercolours. These escape definition physically and semantically. All effortlessly open-ended. And one of the many pulls off drawing for me.
A: What do you have planned for next?
AC: I like the analogy of “always keeping my pencil sharpened”, which to me means staying focussed and inquisitive.
See Alison’s work at , 171 Union Street, London, SE1 0LN, until 26 October. Visit for more.
Credits
1. Alison Carlier, Installation view, Adjectives, lines and marks, Jerwood Drawing Prize 2014. Photography thisistomorrow.info.
