Work in Progress.

Pitt Street, Norwich, looking towards Sovereign House

My investigations into invasive species lead me to photograph this fenced off mound of earth situated in front of the now disused building Sovereign House on Pitt Street, Norwich. Investigation revealed it had been treated last year for the removal of Japanese Knotweed my source being the online Minutes of a public meeting (ACT) held on 18 September 2013 at St Augustine’s Hall, Norwich:

‘Japanese knotweed- a sign in Pitt Street noted that the earth mound area behind fencing was being treated to eradicate Japanese knotweed.’

I could find no evidence of the sign or the knotweed however I particularly liked this image due to the atmosphere of dilapidation and the parallels existing between the building and the Knotweed. Both formerly occupied an elevated status before falling from favour becoming an eyesore and nuisance accompanied by the threat of eradication. The raised mound of earth to my mind had the feel of a mass burial site while the fencing around it gives it a forbiding and slightly menacing feel enhanced by the austere concrete and glass office block in the background and the feeling of dilapidation.

Sovereign House was once described as one of the best Modernist buildings in Norwich and reflects an interesting period of English architecture, the Brutalist movement, spawning many buildings now seen as masterpieces. The building has lain empty since 1996 and due to the ravages of time and nature has slipped into a state of disrepair and dilapidation. It has since been earmarked for demolition as part of a scheme to gentrify and redevelop the surrounding area of Anglia Square.

In order to create this image which was not possible to capture in one shot I took a series of over 30 photographs of the front of the building and mound from the opposite side of the road which I was then able to stitch together using the photomerge  filter on Adobe Photoshop, which aligns and fits them together according to their appropriate place in the composition.

An artist whose paintings have often depicted wastelands, nature and urban decay are those of George Shaw. His subject being the Tile Hill district of suburban Coventry where he was born and raised. Influenced in part by a neo-romantic cause between surrealism and the exploration of British subject matter. Shaw’s art lends an identity to the seemingly anonymous and unregarded landscape.

 George Shaw, The Age of Bullshit, Humbrol Enamel on Board, 2010

George Shaw,  The End of Time, Humbrol Enamel on Board, 2008-09

Landscape artists once sought the sublime through the rendering of pastoral scenes, but Shaw, in common with many contemporary photographers, as well as English painters, records the mundane, the everyday and the overlooked. In doing so, he somehow renders the everyday mysterious.

I had previously created a series of drawings inspired by 1960s style architecture although not explicitly related to urban decay or invasive species. Both of these drawings were made using flats situated on the towpath between Hammersmith and Fulham in London as a reference point.

Richard Wade, Flat Expanse, Crayon and Ink on paper, 2010

In choosing these areas as subject matter I was drawn to the fact that both sets of flats had an unwelcoming almost un lived in feel to them partly due to the lack of any human presence and also on account of the brutalist style concrete apartment blocks. I attempted to add to this brooding presence in Riverside by removing all colour from the composition using only black pen to record the scene.

Richard Wade, Riverside, Ink on Paper, 2010

In the book Edgelands, Journeys into England’s True Wilderness, Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts reference both ruins and wastelands as areas that exist in a hiatus between the edge of one industrial area and potential future developments.

‘They become non-places, an impossible designation of space as terra nullius, suggesting they are spaces of and for nothing…. they have been bypassed by the flows of money, energy, people and traffic within which they were once enfolded.’

At this stage in my investigation I am unwilling to commit to a painting or finished piece of work, wishing to continue to experiment with ideas that are relatively quick and easy to execute, although I am drawn to the dystopic qualities and sense of abandonment and detachment exemplified by the photograph of the fenced off Pitt Street mound of earth and the brooding backdrop of Sovereign House.

I have been experimenting with collage as a way of continuing my investigation into invasive species via a relatively quick and experimental medium. So far I have attempted two one which I created using photoshop and another which I created using cut up and torn images which I had stuck on top of one another in order to arrive at a final image. 

Richard Wade, Giant Hogweed Collage created using Adobe Photoshop    

As part of my investigation I have contacted NNNSI (Norfolk Non-Native Species Initiative) in order to find out the location of invasive species in Norfolk and have arranged to go and witness the removal of Himalayan Balsam from Marriot’s Way at the start of next week as well as the location of a proliferation of Giant Hogweed which I intend on investigating over the weekend.

The two giant hogweed collages I have been experimenting with were both created using found images from a google search, which in the case of the second collage were printed, cut up and stuck together by hand. Despite using very similar subject matter and images I feel that I have achieved quite different results. Consisting of over twenty separate images the photoshop version at first glance looks although it could have been taken from just one photograph.

Richard Wade, Giant Hogweed Collage created using found images, scissors and glue   

The hand made version has much more of a handcrafted and experimental feel about it, this is partly down to the effect of the different colours including the black and white imagery and the overlapping nature of the images. Whilst printing the cyan and yellow cartridges were running out on my printer and as a result the images came out pink, which I chose to include as I felt that it added to the piece by creating more of a disjointed feel.