PRESS RELEASE: Is this the largest drawing ever made?
This drawing took over three years to create on a life size replica of HMS Victory's spritsail, the one that would hang in the front of the ship.
Supported by Arts Council England and conducted as an Artist Residency at Portsmouth Historic Quarter, this project originated as a concept during the lock down period when art institutions were shuttering their doors. The duration of the project was uncertain, but after three years, the outcome emerged from the secluded studio at the dockyard, making its way to various remarkable locations throughout the city for public display.
Initially, at Fratton Park, the vibrant hub of the city's football club, a sail was crafted and named before being hoisted onto the first ironclad battleship HMS Warrior, moored in Portsmouth Harbour. This marks the first time in 160 years that a sail has adorned this floating museum. Subsequently, the sail will be exhibited at Boat House 4, one of the city's largest warehouse-museum structures in the Historic Dockyard. Future plans include showcasing the sail at St Mary's, a grand church situated in the heart of the island city, and even suspending it in front of the Civic Offices.
While small compared to traditional maritime standards, the sail measures an impressive 17 meters in length and 10 meters in height. Crafted from heavy cotton canvas with meticulous attention to detail on the hemp rope edging, it stands out as more than just an ordinary artist's canvas or mural. Its scale rivals that of street art or a Renaissance fresco, making it truly epic. Not only is it the largest drawing in terms of dimensions, but also in the complexity and density of the mark-making. Unlike a simple graphic pattern or symbol, this artwork features countless intricate lines. Created entirely by the artist without studio assistance, it was drawn freehand, incorporating live portrait sittings and the reinterpretation of historical paintings and photos to depict the CROWD. Codling rejects digital tools and views hand drawing as a form of resistance against technology, artificial intelligence, and moving images.
Who is Pete Codling?
He has been creating large scale public artworks for 30 years, with a diverse portfolio of projects. In the early 90's, he started One Million Pebbles, a small mountain of hand-numbered ceramic pebbles tossed into the sea at a Portsmouth beach, a 26 ton project that lasted for 17 years. A sculpture that is there, but not there. Another notable body of work is No Fixed Abode from the early 1990s, where he attached with bicycle locks surreal objects like rulers and wellingtons to bicycle stands and lampposts and made a neon washing line for the South Bank in London..
His innovative projects include covering the steps of Portsmouth Guildhall with 600 square meters of grass in 1996, and drawing Dust to Dust on the walls of his former art school building in 2010, knowing it would be demolished with the artwork. His series Soup of Souls filled a cathedral, while his lock down mosaic masterpiece, Little Bits of God, is currently touring UK churches and chapels. His site specific work has always been about context and value, and often with a socio-political twist..
Since graduation he has worked on major public art commissions creating mosaics, paving patterns and landscapes, designing furniture for high streets and community centers, crafting large steel gates, and sculpting iconic sculptures. Among his remarkable works is a huge mobile metal fish created to hold up to twelve thousand plastic bottles for recycling. Furthermore, he was honored with the London Biennale award in 2021 for his life-sized charcoal drawings from the Naivety series, a set of 13 large drawings creating a radical new nativity scene..
In 2023 he worked the National Portrait Gallery in London and Southampton City Gallery on a' Creative Connections' project. That resulted in radical new maritime version of Picasso's Guernica, called Kinship. It is also on a canvas sail, and won the Art Capital Taylor Prix in Paris 2024, and starred in his solo exhibition in Venice during the 60th Art Biennale.
This huge canvas sail drawing is called 'CROWD' because Portsmouth is deemed one of the most densely populated cities in Europe, it was also to be crowdfunded and include up to 1000 people and their stories. This is the kind of work the Arts Council loves in 2024, match funded, new audiences, extraordinary new venues, and exciting new artists.
Find out more on his Instagram pages and website.
Available for interview on request,
High Resolution photos on request by Wetransfer.
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