Artist Statements
ARTISTS STATEMENT 2019
Chance and control are intrinsic to the artistic process. Creativity is at its strongest and most exciting when opportunity is given to chance and a considered control stops the process descending into chaos. A Priori meets Tabula Rasa.
ARTISTS STATEMENT 2017
I want to take a surface and cover it in the best of colours, lines, forms and textures. I use all types of paint; sometimes a combination and I work on surfaces of various sizes, usually canvas but occasionally other grounds. I am convinced there is a future for abstract painting and I will use any means of applying paint to a surface, any kind of painterly material and any type of surface to realise this belief.
At the moment I am experimenting with chance. Chance is natural and exciting. In the field of painting it means a freedom of colour, texture, form and composition and they are all competing for their position on the surface of the painting. I retain control by maintaining an artistic awareness of the process and making choices that are relevant to my intentions.
There is a non-closure about these paintings that sits well with the modern notion of not wanting to be told what to think.
ARTISTS STATEMENT
MIXASFEELS EXHIBITION 2011
For this exhibition I have been inspired to paint the visual equivalent of conversations and dialogue. My method includes elements of chance and choice to build up the layers and structures that represent the questions, descriptions, explanations, statements and other aspects of a conversation that follow on from one another. On the canvas paintings I have used the unique qualities of oil paint to produce the many different effects that make up the complex surface detail. The interaction between the images that have evolved create visual relationships that transcend the original assumptions made and leaves the work open to further interpretation.
ARTISTS STATEMENT
MUSEUM OF PLASTICS EXHIBITION, AUCB, 2011
‘Sentences’
I am inspired to paint the visual equivalents of conversations of all kinds in an abstract manner. I use squeegees made from various sources to create the layers and structures necessary for the painting. The ones here are from plastic milk bottles. After using them they are often very interesting in their own right and so I keep them and consider them to be sentences taken from the conversation.
ARTISTS STATEMENT 2009 – DARWIN EXHIBITION
TITLE: ENLIGHTENMENT
I am studying Fine Art at The Arts University College, Bournemouth and I have been concentrating on conveying ideas, thoughts and notions using the media of paint. The invitation to represent an aspect of something so enormous as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution as a painting was a challenge. The image of the ammonite shown spiralling backwards for millions of years towards the origin of life on earth has been combined with the living colours of the Peacock butterfly, widely collected by the Victorians. Both are found at BNSS and locally in Dorset and link the past with the present. Black overshadows the origin of species. It symbolises the lack of knowledge that existed in 1859 and pays tribute to the mystery and intense controversy that still exists today. Shining white shows the path of evolution and represents enlightenment and blue echoes the early arrival of the blue-green algae.
Chance and control are intrinsic to the artistic process. Creativity is at its strongest and most exciting when opportunity is given to chance and a considered control stops the process descending into chaos. A Priori meets Tabula Rasa.
ARTISTS STATEMENT 2017
I want to take a surface and cover it in the best of colours, lines, forms and textures. I use all types of paint; sometimes a combination and I work on surfaces of various sizes, usually canvas but occasionally other grounds. I am convinced there is a future for abstract painting and I will use any means of applying paint to a surface, any kind of painterly material and any type of surface to realise this belief.
At the moment I am experimenting with chance. Chance is natural and exciting. In the field of painting it means a freedom of colour, texture, form and composition and they are all competing for their position on the surface of the painting. I retain control by maintaining an artistic awareness of the process and making choices that are relevant to my intentions.
There is a non-closure about these paintings that sits well with the modern notion of not wanting to be told what to think.
ARTISTS STATEMENT
MIXASFEELS EXHIBITION 2011
For this exhibition I have been inspired to paint the visual equivalent of conversations and dialogue. My method includes elements of chance and choice to build up the layers and structures that represent the questions, descriptions, explanations, statements and other aspects of a conversation that follow on from one another. On the canvas paintings I have used the unique qualities of oil paint to produce the many different effects that make up the complex surface detail. The interaction between the images that have evolved create visual relationships that transcend the original assumptions made and leaves the work open to further interpretation.
ARTISTS STATEMENT
MUSEUM OF PLASTICS EXHIBITION, AUCB, 2011
‘Sentences’
I am inspired to paint the visual equivalents of conversations of all kinds in an abstract manner. I use squeegees made from various sources to create the layers and structures necessary for the painting. The ones here are from plastic milk bottles. After using them they are often very interesting in their own right and so I keep them and consider them to be sentences taken from the conversation.
ARTISTS STATEMENT 2009 – DARWIN EXHIBITION
TITLE: ENLIGHTENMENT
I am studying Fine Art at The Arts University College, Bournemouth and I have been concentrating on conveying ideas, thoughts and notions using the media of paint. The invitation to represent an aspect of something so enormous as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution as a painting was a challenge. The image of the ammonite shown spiralling backwards for millions of years towards the origin of life on earth has been combined with the living colours of the Peacock butterfly, widely collected by the Victorians. Both are found at BNSS and locally in Dorset and link the past with the present. Black overshadows the origin of species. It symbolises the lack of knowledge that existed in 1859 and pays tribute to the mystery and intense controversy that still exists today. Shining white shows the path of evolution and represents enlightenment and blue echoes the early arrival of the blue-green algae.