Paintingtheinnate

HIDDEN REFERENCES

Dictated division of space.

Something is happening - Learning to be still.

I look at the canvas, the canvas looks at me and it, dictates. It's an odd starting point perhaps, but the crease from the folded canvas decided the fate of this first image. I had to start somewhere and despite everything, that crease was, in charge. The result was intuitive and only on reflection did I realise that there was all this underlying referencing taking place - inevitable I suppose - it's seeped into the psyche, all that visual culture whirring around inside me. I want the work to resonate with others as the work of so many artists resonate for me. At present paintings by Mattisse, Hockney & Chardin are in my head, the references are not necessarily obvious but I recognise them. Rothko, Agnes Martin et al occupy my thoughts, not directly but I know they are there, on the periphery. Hello, Chardin? Yes, I too would love to be able to paint silence, to capture that which cannot be seen but can be, felt = the INTANGIBLE.

As with all recent work, the painting was worked on the floor, on the wall and rotated until it arrived in its current format. I have had a couple of 'textile' screens in the studio and the section on the right demanded to receive the pattern on the screen. There are subtleties and variants that can only be perceived by seeing the painting in the flesh - the scale and how the light falls on the canvas as usual are of paramount importance.

The composition once again dictated by the vague remnants of a crease in the canvas. As the first mark went down the rest were required to follow, the emptiness a necessity, as is, the watery paint employed. I realise its simplicity, and its brevity is a challenge. To do more would change the whole and the elements interactions would be lost. A case of, less is, more.

The two images above are on card and by default are more manic, deliberately so. An expression of working, re-working, translucency, overprint, rhythm, reaction, assertion, removal, reinstatement, uncertainty & of course, serendipity.

I am trying to find things out and in attempting to do this I take risks - there is no point in remaining stationary, sometimes you have to plough your own furrow. As an artist what I do is as a consequence of a number of factors - influences that may be obvious and also, influences that may be subliminal - all of this is affected on a daily basis from the moment I enter the studio.

The images below show various stages in a new proposition. Bill Clark is still there in my head 30+ yrs on.