'Ba (a sound, a gesture, a number) is a kind of aggregate group of images. Made in stages, they have been built up at the same speed as daily life. Using layered transparent papers, I leave the history of their construction visible. Each layer responds to the last, and so on, until a pictorial summary of daily gestures is formed. In this sense, Ba is an ongoing situation, until it isn’t' - Matt Bromhead
Matt Bromhead's 'Ba,' shown at Olsen Gallery in 2024, was made as a single unit, rather than individual works. Each piece is made by layering transparent papers, like mulberry and rice, and mark-making on top of each other in a process of building up, obscuring and revealing, and where a layer or segment doesn't appear to fit, it might be recycled onto another board. Bromhead's practice is an exercise in trust, implementing automatic drawing techniques and allowing the pictorial element to reveal itself to him. The finished pieces aren't about a subject, but the process through which they were created.
