artist statement
‘Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs.’-Lao Tzu.
Matter and form are often perceived as static, inert or concrete. However the material world exists in a state of transformation and perpetual flux. Forms can be seen as transitional, constantly arising and subsiding, always being renewed in the constellation of their parts.
These paintings question the boundaries which define form through a process of dislocation and suspension. Objects are pulled apart and suspended in space, ridding form of its sense of containment, separateness and isolation.
These paintings are about the interaction between man-made forms built within the landscape, and the primordial natural environment. These forms undergo a breaking down of their physical structure by nature, and show an erosion of differences within a dynamic process.
Within the image, the man-made form also acts as a motif of mans impermanence, and shows the residue of his presence within the landscape.
Ideas of the sublime are also prevalent in the work; the vastness and immensity of nature, its indifference to man, and the paradox of its creative and destructive power.
Another core concern within the work is the exploration of paint as both a physical, material process, and as the creation of a fictional space for the imagination to occupy.
A sense of realism through colour, light or texture, is given to the viewer as a foothold in the painting, some tangible relationship or feeling of atmosphere with which they can identify.
This is juxtaposed with the material nature of the paint, illustrating painting as both a material process and a fictional, illusory space.
The work occupies a similar territory to contemporary artists such as Tomory Dodge, Matthias Weischer, Dexter Dalwood and Peter Doig, in its concern with painting as both process and image. Also, in its concern with man and his relationship to the landscape. Caspar David Friedrich is also another influence on the work through his idea of nature as icon, and mans contemplation of the sublime.
These paintings differ however, through their sense of painterly dynamic and movement, and the interwoven quality they have, where boundaries become indistinct. Forms sit on the threshold of transformation and have no fixed definition, and the paint itself appears as if it is moving away from the surface, resisting containment.