Déclaration Declaracion Dichiarazione Erklärung Datganiad 聲明

Statement

My work is completely abstract. I focus a great deal on how I can control my surface to amplify the expressive possibilities for colour. Subtle shifts of viscosity, sheen and texture all decide the effect that the colour will have. Although a great deal of the colour is improvised due to the demands of layering and adjustment, strategies are needed to make these things happen. I would identify the way that the colour is controlled both in terms of hue and facture as a form of drawing. Each painting places demands upon its successor to develop the fundamentals further; scale for one, is something that I feel is beholden to confidence and I have found that only through consistent practice can confidence be earned.

I enjoy using brushes, which I feel have an intimate quality. I try to bring the experiences of painting to a state of heady intensity and always seek a visual closeness to the viewer, so they are acutely aware of the play of the brush or the sweep of colour. Through reworking and tuning the colour I discover spatial structures that open out the painting in unforeseen ways.

A painter moves from a mode of philosopher to sportsman, from cerebral to physical. I never try to predict the outcome of a painting. Instead I commit with intensity to each instance of paint application and believe it to the point that it should not only take care of itself but hopefully set up a momentum which will be maintained with every subsequent instance. This approach reassures me that I always gave it my best shot.