2014
The figures in my paintings struggle to be seen and heard and yet at the same time hide and sink away from the viewer’s sight line. Layers of paint define and then defuse the themes, adding complicated relationships between repeating shapes and overall composition.
While the paintings are varied in size and medium (oil on canvas and watercolour) they share a similar hypertension reinforced by the composition of painted overlapping layers which vie for attention and by the titlessuch as Nervous Wait and Waiting on a Park Bench. Personal symbols of red flags (Checking the Mail) and figures with rabbit ears (She Had Rabbit Ear Reception and They Made a Garden in the City) convey extraordinary hyper-vigilance.
The focal point can be under the horizon line, dead centre or half off the canvas, suggesting a continuing story. Metaphorical scenes catch figures in moments of contemplation, anxiety or in mid-conversation with unseen counterparts. The background moments of my day-to-day life contribute to the steady hum of energy in the work: the patterns in the ceiling fan, the stitching on the organ, the bowl of apples, the steady chug of the dishwasher while techno music thumps away become a part of my art-making process.
I think of my paintings as stories, following a meandering trail with comma’s and pauses and surprise endings.
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