CONTEMPORARY PAINTER
My painting practice is concerned with the complex nature of the self and how that is translated through painterly abstraction. Within this context I employ a play of opposites and the alchemy of bringing them together within the psychological space of the painting. Hard edge meets soft sweep of the brush, muddy ochres clamour for attention next to saturated Prussian blue, the recorded sweep of the gesture of my arm and body as moves and explores, invokes swirls of wet in wet paint strokes, fading as they travel, mingling paint colour on the surface. This release of control allows unconscious marks to appear, to either be edited and worked with or removed. Into this organic flow I introduce elements of disruption; a seam or zip of flat colour intertwining and puncturing the flow, an abject murky background of muddy scabs against the clear sweep of soft purples and blues.
Other disruptive elements introduce tension; such as shiny long handles or balls which seems to leap off the surface of the painting. The space works as a numinous territory, both of inner and outer space; the atmosphere of the paintings is otherworldly and yet at the same time could be thought of as deeply psychological explorations of the self. My previous work as a transpersonal psychotherapist inevitably informs my process of making, particularly in the play of conscious and unconscious, with a phenomenological heightened attention in the moment and a respect for the unknown nature of the painting itself.