PROFILE
My Florals are really dramatic landscapes. I relish the simplicity of the monumental and sweeping the illogical large scale of an otherwise delicate and small subject disorientate and create a sense of awe.
I like my viewer to fall into my images and traveling along the surface of my images. My images of flowers become more iconic, monolithic, archetypal, ultimate and prime symbols. I rejoice in this transhistorical and ancient subject matter. They always continue to fascinate me.
Historically the flowers are emotionally and symbolically rich with content. To me they represent time, beauty , fragility, decay, cycle of life, life as a journey. I like the space of the struggle – the dichotomy of perfection and slow decline. One cannot exist and be appreciated without the other.
There is great beauty in all these stages. Life as journey and respect for all stages of nature. To get a sense of nostalgia of what was.
I have a love of realism however no desire for hyper-realistic style. I am not compelled to explain every detail of my subject. If looking closely at my surface there is a lot of painterly brush and glaze work, allowing movement, space for thought and imagination.
My love of the Renaissance, Vermeer, Rothko – the love of colour and luminosity as if to point to a higher plain. Light and colour become an intrinsic part of the subject being portrayed. My love of the beautiful / of potent inspiring images is really the search for something higher – to be enlightened/ energised.
Beauty for beauty’s sake.
We as beings through the ages have been fascinated by them – delicate, beautiful, often no other utilitarian use other than to exist. Fascinating that a small organic form holds so much power to provoke and inspire.
More than ever since the COVID – anxious times my painting practice has held me / has given strong purpose/ held my nerve. It is the only place besides my family that I know to be true.
Presently the world is an unforgiving place , a society on edge. My need for simple pleasures / to re-focus on a subject as simple as flowers/ to paint them / steadies my soul.
