STATEMENT
I am interested in the intuitive process by which a ‘world’ emerges, through interaction with the materials I use and the visual language of abstraction. For me this process requires an openness, a willingness to take risks, and a critical faculty, which I don’t assume are given. Significant relationships in the paintings emerge through trial and error, ‘serious play’, and a search for a kind of truth or integrity. Forms or configurations appear like affirmations, but they are only possible through their wider relationship with neighbouring forms and the composition as a whole. The work is difficult, and so are the paintings, yet the direction is one of letting go, and allowing something unexpected to take place.
Generally, I leave a piece when the elements are related in such a way as to create a dynamic state of tension or suspense, out of which one or more configurations call for resolution. While this state is something arrived at, I prefer that the piece remains open and in movement, suggesting multiple readings and inviting the active engagement of the observer. This moment always comes as a surprise. In my work there is usually a dialogue and tension between the flat surface and the illusion of depth, between what is inside and what is beyond the edge.
With regard to references beyond painting, I am particularly interested in the movement that takes place within and across boundaries in Persian miniatures, oriental rugs, and religious icons, and the interplay across lines of demarcation in sport. The emergence and shift of motifs in African and Middle-eastern music, free-form jazz, and the work of such composers as Messian, Tavener and Reich are an inspiration. Ideas concerning the relationship between the spiritual and material worlds, and particularly those of G.I.Gurdjieff, have been of long-standing interest.