I’ve always been fascinated by the body: its structure, shapes and movement. My new exhibition, Back to Black, at Paddock Studios Stable Gallery in Lewes, explores this obsession in black and white. Made using charcoal and ink, the pieces range from small sketches to life-size drawings, and from more realistic life drawings to looser, abstracted approaches to movement.

Stable Gallery, Paddock Art Studios
Paddock Lane Lewes BN7 1TW
17 August – 1 September

Wed-Sat 10am-6.30pm Sun 11-6pm (closed Mondays & Tuesdays)

Seven years ago I joined a contemporary dance company in Brighton, newly established. Three Score Dance Company was created to offer contemporary dance opportunities for women and men aged 60+. From merely watching dance theatre I started using my body. Three Score Co has a brilliant artistic director, Jason Keenan-Smith, and we’ve worked with some great choreographers to make performances .

I made some sketches of the other dancers when not actually involved. Of course there’s a great legacy of dance art: Manet, Degas, Matisse, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso… aside from the whole world of non-Western art. But while not daring to include myself in that list, I started to make drawings of dance.

Then I started to work the other way round: dancing the drawing. I was intrigued by what marks might result if an artist would dance over and on paper or canvas, trailing charcoal or paint. So over large sheets of paper I would move and (sort-of) dance with charcoal in both hands, tracing my movements. The results were intriguing, and formed a basis for building on; life-size figures in motion. It would be a real achievement to make a coherent performance from it, but it’s early days yet.

Back to Black:
Michael Munday Drawings

Stable Gallery, Paddock Art Studios
Paddock Lane Lewes BN7 1TW
17 August – 1 September

Wed-Sat 10am-6.30pm Sun 11-6pm (closed Mondays & Tuesdays)

The Lewes Artwave Festival