Approach to my painting

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In my blog, I want to share my thinking on art related topics, starting with extracts of a talk I gave in my September 2017 exhibition on my own work.

My approach has evolved into a process of construction of images, then deconstructing them, destroying and concealing them in the final composition. Texture and colour are important. Although I take ancient images as my starting point, my views on what’s happening in the world beyond my studio and my reactions to current events find expression in my work, especially the most recent series.

Cycladic head
Rupture

Influences

My love of colour has been reinforced by appreciation of several great painters in the canon. Although my work has nothing in common with Motherwell’s, I am interested by his conceptual approach. For example, he wrote, “Painting is a medium in which the mind can actualize itself; it is a medium of thought. Thus painting, like music, tends to become its own content.” My style, however,  is more in tune with the output of Nicolas de Staël or Hans Hoffman and the latter’s stated objective “to stir the observer rhythmically to a response to living” very much strikes a chord.

Finally, however, each canvas for me is an exploration of the paint, interacting with ideas and formed by the mind’s eye as well as my hand. In this way, each work finds its own energy.

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