All the works in this series of over 30 individual layered drawings thus far combine the use of clay, mixed mediums and a variety of bodily, gestural marks to generate abstract material surfaces. The works all start as tracings of the movement of three-dimensional wet clay forms on paper. These tracings are sometimes left raw or worked upon further by methodically adding more layers (including more clay prints, white chalk powder, black pigment and a variety of marks in charcoal). In this way the artworks all serve to extend the force and presence of the body onto the surface of the paper.

This series began with the triptych ‘Weight’ shown above, completed whilst the artist was on residency in Mexico in 2024. In brief these are imprints of clay made by the weight of the artist’s heel on various round forms. Here Thom first began to work extensively with clay as medium creating large-scale installations of hundreds even thousands of clay shapes that have since been exhibited to critical acclaim. Overall there are two series of works that form part of the clay drawings: the tonally lighter, raw works and their darker, denser, more layered counterparts.

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