Lucinda Burgess

Created during Lucinda Burgess’s residency on the Atlantic coast of Ireland, Atlantic Series, No. 1–6 explores the relationship between drawing, environment, and time. Each work is made on handmade Japanese paper, selected for its delicate fibres and its sensitivity to moisture and pigment. Ink washes interact with seawater and atmospheric humidity, allowing salt and mineral residues to become embedded within the surface of the paper. Rather than depicting the surrounding landscape, Burgess allows the environmental conditions of the Atlantic coast to act directly upon the work. Seawater, salt crystallisation, and fluctuating moisture levels function as active elements within the composition. These forces produce subtle tonal shifts and granular textures that emerge through immersion, evaporation, and gradual drying. The resulting surfaces carry visible traces of this process. Salt deposits remain within the fibres of the paper, while the ink responds to the unpredictable movement of moisture. Each sheet therefore registers a sequence of environmental interactions, where the final image emerges through the interplay between natural forces and the artist’s initial intervention. Within Burgess’s broader practice, the series extends an ongoing investigation into process-based abstraction and material agency. Developed in the context of her residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, the works enter into a quiet dialogue with traditions of colour and perception associated with Josef Albers, while remaining grounded in the direct encounter between material and environment. Across the six works, the fragility of handmade paper contrasts with the mineral residues left by seawater, foregrounding the tension between dissolution and preservation that runs throughout the exhibition Morphosis. The drawings function as records of exposure and transformation, where time, atmosphere, and material sensitivity shape the surface of the work. Atlantic Series, No. 1–6 offers a concentrated articulation of Burgess’s approach to abstraction. Through the interaction of ink, paper, and seawater, the works propose drawing as a process of encounter, in which environmental forces become active collaborators in the formation of the image.