Layers of meaning
The art I normally make consists of layers of photography, drawing and paint. Sometimes the photographs are digitally altered using Photoshop, sometimes they are not. Sometimes these photographs are printed or transferred to a surface whole and then paint, pen or pencil applied to these surfaces afterwards. Other times, the photographs may be torn up and applied to the surface like a collage, with deliberate gaps and abrasions upon the surface. Then when I paint or draw upon the work, these gaps and abrasions become an important component. Either way, my art consists of layers whether it be digital, photographic, collage, painting or drawing.
These layers play an important role in that they act as a kind of veiled curtain where there is no clarity. This allows for my imagination to step in and fill in the gaps. The uncertainty and incompleteness provides a springboard for all sorts of possibilities to develop. It is very much like staring into the clouds and seeing an ever-changing mural in the sky full of faces, animals, objects and places.
I have been well aware for many years, that this openness and temporality is critical to help me develop my ideas. However I have been keen to try this approach with using just paint and the immediacy of the environment around me to see what sort of effect this might have on my practice.
I am carrying on focusing on buildings and interiors, observing the the piecemeal view we have in our daily existence, those bits we can see out of the corner of our eye, the suggestions of objects that remain unformed, the spaces within spaces, the ceiling, floors, surfaces, furniture, shapes, colours and textures. The recording of these things with paint is deliberately not accurate. I’m not trying to duplicate the environment but rather use the suggestion of what is around me in combination with paint to evoke alternative places and something other.
The paintings displayed are examples of my latest endeavours.
