In all
my work, I am intrigued by the impact of image on the flat, map-like, painter’s
space, and the dialogue and tension between the different realities of
information and imagination - between what inspires and drives the paintings
and the uncertainties and excitement of the painting process. As an artist I crave/need surprise, not sameness:
it is what you ‘do’ with the source material that matters, a piece must be its
own thing, have its’ own life. Journeys,
places, books, music, all generate ideas, providing catalyst and context, and
colour always excites, but until it is resolved, a painting is a live thing,
full of possibilities.
In his
forward to ‘Il Mistero de Cattedrell’, Anselm Keifer wrote: ‘If there is too
much order, it is dead; if there is too much chaos, it doesn’t cohere. I’m
continually negotiating between these two extremes.’ Freedom and control is the
contradiction of painting: finding the balance is the essence of my work.
For nearly four years I have been
working on the ‘City of Glass series, inspired by ‘The New York Trilogy’, a
novel by Paul Auster. It is thrilling to be working from another artform,
combining images sourced from narrative and text with memories of my own
experience of New York. As a painter I can relate to Auster’s striking imagery
and complex layerings of identity and truth and his acknowledgement and
explorations of chance.
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