unfinished yet resolved
Pictures have a double reality, being both the thing they represent
and the thing they are. Simultaneously presenting an idea as an
image and the image as a thing itself. The resolution of an idea has greater
importance than the completion of a particular picture. The unfinished
yet resolved state is often more compelling than a demonstration of
technique or style.
process
" The images - inspired by the human figure, using free flowing lines - are at all times treated to a degree of abstraction.
Lively and usually set against colours, by turns contrasting and harmonious in geometric spaces both interior and exterior.
Great play is made of the space between abstraction and representation, resulting in the familiar yet mysterious. There is always a degree of risk and experimentation. The final resolution can be surprising, provocative and sometimes hysterical.
inspirations
Inspired not only by Roger Hilton and Francis Bacon but also an unlikely reference to 5th Century Graeco-Roman damaged sculpture. There is reference to theatre, circus and cinema.
An example: the 1948 film ‘The Snake Pit’ exploring the horrors of a mental institution. One of few works with both narrative and title, ‘The Municipal Snake Pit’ brings together the almost hopeless staircase reference in ‘ Kidnapped’ (Robert Louis Stevenson - a classic period novel) and a vast municipal swimming pool.
Together seemingly unrelated strands make a coherent whole, being both Snow White and the Ugly Sisters … something familiar ... but not quite right.
Work of ever growing ambition and scope, intentionality jarring juxtaposition
of image and approach. What at first may seem clear eventually reveals an absurdity. A red figure diving out of a red pool.
Despite the unconventional and often irreverent use of materials - house
paint, tea, acrylic, oil - thrown, together, at a canvas - colours sing.
And even with such free flowing lines,
describing part figures with missing or
additional limbs and other body parts the
work imparts a solid geometry .
Above all there is a tremendous sense of 'joie de vivre’, celebration and (at times) an almost hilarious wit.
