Coral Seas Painting

Painter, lives and works in London. Artist statement: Through painting, I create dream-like representations of reality where nature is encountered as an idealised environment. These landscapes are situated in a kind of no-where place that touches upon a paradisiacal terrain, depicting timeless moments of tranquility. My practice explores the notion of travel, passing through a landscape, which seems both familiar and foreign. Through questioning my role as the onlooker, I investigate the ideas surrounding the contemporary pilgrimage and the experience of being elsewhere. It is interesting to question the purpose of these journeys and whether we do seek a form of modern enlightenment. With changes in society come changes within our ever-expanding, globalised landscape. Is the lure of escapism in the painted landscape suggestive of a hopeless modern dream of returning to nature? The painting process is of great importance in my work. The fluidity of the medium often dictates the path of the painting and thereby the paint itself is an act of depiction. Water is a recurring motif in my work. I am inspired by painters such as Helen Frankenthaler who dilute the paint to such a point that it resembles water’s alluring, fleeting quality. This enigmatic substance is the source of everything in our world; as a form it is constantly redefining and reshaping itself, in the same way materials continually govern my paintings. Using my own photos and collected imagery I create scenes that are relatable to the viewer. "True memories seemed like phantoms, while false memories were so convincing that they replaced reality.”-Rebecca Solnit, Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics. Memory can be viewed as an inherent force in nature. By depicting generic scenes, it can channel a collective sense of nostalgia. Because the forms in my paintings are not totally assertive, the images are negotiable, therefore the viewer determines themselves what they see. Cinema is a prominent influence in my practice; it helps me to explore the blurred line between reality and fantasy in landscape. Filmmakers, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Patricio Guzman explore the visual poetics of the metaphysical landscape in real representations of their homelands. While their approach is personal through their cultural identity, I share a similar romanticised vision of the landscape.