Hunter's Feast Painting

London based painter and Painting Tutor. "My practice focuses on painting and drawing, both of which allow me to communicate on the ideas of the impermanent nature of things. My current work takes its inspiration from the memento mori traditions in both 17th century Dutch still life paintings and the ideas of the public anatomical theatres in Renaissance Age Europe. I tend to paint the assemblage of two main subjects: imaginary botanical species and human body forms or organs, which are carefully implanted and hardly visible at first glance. Despite the depictions of floral abundance, its beautiful forms and feast of colours, the paintings possess a darker side and have an autobiographical element, rooted in emotional loss. This relates back to the idea of an inner experience, which I was working on in previous years, but from a different angle: the physical and psychological experiences of how different emotions and states affect transition and metamorphosis within; referencing Descartes’ ideas on the dualism of mind and body and Sartre’s point of being. I choose to work from my own imagination, merging memories from observation and my own life experiences. I often apply oil paints directly onto the flat surface, without any preparatory sketches, relying totally on my abilities and instincts. I paint in layers, sometimes reworking my canvases and as throughout the process some elements vanish, some are left exposed. Nothing evaporates, it takes a different form of presence. That is the significant point for me here: the evolution of making a painting as images are eclipsed, just as in nature life cycles bring about a constant flow of change and where the end is a new beginning."