Frances Richardson studied woodcarving in Nigeria. There she learned to appreciate the spiritual values associated with wood (blood sacrifices were made when taking a tree for carving). She became particularly interested in the way in which the geometry of a tree's organic structure records its age. In her series of '1+1' drawings she explores the seemingly infinite structure of the tree's annual rings through a seemingly endless multiplication of a single arithmetic device. She also sees this building of metric entities as relating to computer technology. Richardson does not draw sculpture but rather expresses physical properties through a series of symbolic marks. Her training in Nigeria may also have led her to use series of endless repetitions of tiny strokes, allowing the overall pattern to develop subtly. Her way of using mathematical symbols is not only a means of physically defining form, but also creates a delicately ambiguous expression of space. It thus opens up avenues for exploring the mathematical with the organic.

The drawing is related to another in the collection: E.453-1999