Gallery

The paintings consist of oil paint applied onto sheet steel stretchers. These are initially treated with chemicals to create a variety of colour patinas and textures. Layers of oil colour are successively built upon this in thin veils using squeedgees, to create depth and space. The treated areas sometimes show through the translucent layers of paint to create a subtle interplay between the soft, illusory elements of the paint and the solid, physical certainty of the steel.

The paintings are intended to be undefined spaces or 'scapes' that have recently been inspired by images from the macro world, i.e. the solar system, and from the micro world, i.e. bacterium, as well as working on a more human scale. They are obviously concerned with colour, structure and depth, through which I aim to convey a sense of mystery and subtle beauty. Through the application of these translucent layers, I try to achieve an exterior calm and order, that on closer inspection reveals more tumultuous details underneath.

Close up to the small details within the painting, I aim to draw the viewer into the process of painting. The viewer becomes witness to the subtlety and drama of colours sweeping through each other, tangling and mixing viscerally. The result is both a contemplative and dramatic space that the viewer is engaged with.

The works on paper are created by dripping different colours of thinned oil paint through a suspended container onto the paper. There is obviously a large random element to this, but subjected to the normal physical laws, (e.g. gravity), the splashes of colour do tend to take on natural forms.

Once dry, the images are developed by pencilling in the precise outline of each drip and splash. By varying the amount of splashes outlined, down to a infinitesimal scale, an image is created tonally. These images often relate to molecular compounds or images from deep space.

Visually we are now able to view the world from a myriad of varied perspectives, from microscopic images of bacteria, to our everyday human perspective of different cultures, to the macroscopic images of planets and galaxies. These drawings are a response to this perspective, its innate fragility and our place within it.