Untitled [Gauntlets]

Since 1996 Jane Dixon has been working on related sequences of drawings/works on paper which explore objects designed to contain and protect the body. These objects become equivalents for the absent human forms. Drawings of various medical machines - for breathing, bathing or making x-rays - were succeeded by a series which represent armour and chain-mail. There is an evident interest in pattern in the way the structures of these pieces are represented as repetitive rhythmic links or articulated tessellation. This drawing sets up a series of subtly nuanced oppositions: the armour itself - hard, defensive, designed to repel, and a stand-in for the muscular aggressive male body - is described in a sequence of curvaceous forms, the loops and links themselves suggesting flexibility and permeability. The forms are often ambiguous. Lacking any indication of scale the pieces in 'Untitled [Gauntlets]' resemble the remnants and ruins of some mysterious architecture. The drawings also have analogies with plans, diagrams and architectural drawings.