Behind The Art

This section discusses my work, so that others can understand where it comes from, what it is, etc. I have a separate space especially for writing called Philosophus Autodidactus (see 'links' on the home page).

For a long time I struggled to translate my inspirations (ideas, emotions or beliefs) into visual form. I always 'drew stuff', but I didn't attribute any significance to it beyond being 'proficient', 'representative' or 'pretty' (although others did and I didn't know why or how). Then, sometime during this year or last, I realised that in fact my work speaks volumes - I just didn't know how to 'read' it. I suppose this is artistic maturity.

I also only recently comprehended the value of abstraction - previously I thought abstraction was something those who couldn't draw did, or who were lazy, or who were copyists (I'm referring more to semi-commercial contemporary artists now, not Kasimir Malevich). I still like to keep my work somewhat figurative as I love forms - but it is also equally abstract. Why do I embrace abstraction now? Because, in fact, things aren't definite in the world, and I want my images to reflect that. One could almost say I seek to wallow in that. I love mystery - a simple picture of pavement, a road, and the corner of a building - can entrance me totally. What is around that corner? Where are we? What happened before and after this image? Who is the viewer? Who is being viewed, if anyone? As a kid I had a picture book about cowboys in the desert or something, and the most interesting aspect of the book for me was the background  - purple skies gradually fading to white, on a horizon line. That was all. And it marked me for life! Rothko's work, predictably, has a similar effect on me. So this is why I like to include indeterminacy in my work - to indulge my love of mystery and to represent the mystery that is the world.