Thursday 12 April 2018

Stepping over the threshold

Procrastination requires immense self - discipline

Stepping over the threshold - The need to comment visually

Stepping into the studio without an idea of what the work will be about forces the hand, it creates a state of uncertainty and demands action. An arbitrary mark starts a dialogue and a conversation begins. What follows is a constant state of flux, an exchange of opinion, argument and assertion, followed by lots of humming & hawing, further proposals  and rumination - the inevitable cycle of this chosen pathway. 

Reading (again) Van Gogh's letters reinforces my belief system - he expresses despair at those artists that produce "polite, technically competent pictures" that ultimately tell you, nothing. Yes, it looks reasonably like that place but does not say anything that involves the sensation of being there, the way the light, wind, colour, air etc ... affects the artist - in other words, images that are without an opinion. 

There are too many painters producing decorative pieces that are devoid of any voice, it all becomes the same banal shite. 

Picasso,was prepared to take a gamble, he didn't want to stand still despite what he had already achieved - for him it was about pushing his boundaries, at 13 he could draw like Raphael. The list of artists that inspire is obviously a long one, I believe they have a link in common, a singular voice that comes about from a genuine desire to say something, an inner drive to create and hone their voice. Gillian Ayres being one of those, a painter of great stature, unwilling to compromise.

With all this whirring around in my head there are plenty of mistakes to be made and, plenty to be learnt - the creating drug produces the most destructive lows and euphoric highs - would I have it it any other way? 

The sense of an arbitrary mark beginning the process poses the questions -  why? what for?
Partly the answer lies in the word process - the process of painting, the application, the translucency, the opacity, the shape - all of these help to inform the next stage and reveal  the images intent and hence, its meaning. Convoluted?  Perhaps, nevertheless I don't want to visually or mentally, stand still.




Nirvana 



Eclipse



A Collection of Unconnected Moments



Iberian Overture




Pick n' mix - Contextual Appropriation




Introspection




Cassis - Reverie



Culicidae



Attested - A Series of Random Impositions



Lacuna - revised



Internal Mapping




Cambodian Boogie - Sensory Overload




Payload -  Overload - Bombing the Innocent


Carnival













Analysis in Green & Tangerine



Extant - Unfulfilled 



Reminicence - Arles Deconstructed


Isolation Marker





I have been uploading to https://www.instagram.com/cruachan0/ with paintings and photographs and have utilised a lot of time-lapse videos as above showing the development of a number of works.