It's the holidays at last! - time to think more about art, and where to go or what to do next... I have been doing so little art lately - working full time over these last few weeks has sapped my creative energy. All week and then some weekend overtime for the extra money - but now it is nearly Christmas.I have been thinking about abstraction (in art) and concluded that there are three distinct modes.. (these are my thoughts whilst driving to and from work).1. to translate from reality, in patterns, shapes, forms and colours (on losing the reality)2. to assemble or create patterns, shapes, forms and colours (on denying a reality)3. to work intuitively with materials to a point where they make forms, shapes and colours (on finding your own reality)the first way is quite straightforward...the second way is quite formal...the third way is quite brilliant, or a complete mess...I need to avoid making a mess of things.
edgescape : klinken
this painting is currently being exhibited along with some other works in the exhibition entitled vivid at the Reunion Gallery..
edgescape:klinken, mixed media on panel, 95cm x 95cm framed.29 August 2006edgescape:klinken was informed by the experience of digging an area of ground - striations of compost, discarded ash, coal and clinker, fragments of carpet, unidentified detritus... I also unearthed a wealth of pseudo-archaeological matter including broken toys, metal lighters, pottery and old tins, glass bottles, unworthy of a museum but the history contained within created a humble collection of artefacts...i titled this painting klinken after mixing some clinker in the paint to achieve a more random texture than could be achieved with sand or chalk...
klinken, detail.this second image shows some of the thin layers of paint... at the time i felt the colours were too sombre, but it has an earthy, autumnal quality, of mist, compost, wood fires and smoke, the centre is overlaid with a soft smokey haze, but on photographing the whole painting my camera's settings gave it more contrast and prominence... this close-up detail serves to show the subtle merging of layers and is more truthful in colour...here are some photographs i took of the painting at different stages; the dates relate to the day picture was taken...
28 july 2005
19 october 2005
16 december 2005
12 march 2006
09 june 2006view more abstract landscape paintings in this series...
Vivid impressions
I have ten pieces currently on show at the Reunion Gallery with another artist Damian Woodford in an exhibition entitled Vivid. It was originally scheduled as a solo show of Damian's very vibrant colour paintings, but I then had the opportunity to exhibit alongside. Our work is quite different but in many ways both are distillations of real experiences, using the pure, physical matter of paint as the primary vehicle. Vivid runs until 21st October 2006...Edgescape #12 rost 2006