The Art of Still Life: Variation 45: Five Moons (For Robert Silverberg) Painting

ARTISTIC STATEMENT !!!Post-Minimalist plus!!! I'm an emerging painter currently working in the abstract genre. My aim is to bring the clarity and logic found in classical and contemporary musical compositions to painting. **Since 2018 I have been working in paintings that go beyond the strict absolute maxims of minimalism. I call this style post-minimalism. They follow many of the objectives of Donald Judd’s minimalism: they minimise the illusion of depth and other forms of illusionism (e.g. texture, brushwork). The key difference between my post-minimalists and minimalist works is that the former refer to objects in the real world (e.g. D-Day beaches) or the world of literature (the Ancient Greek poems: The Iliad and The Odyssey; the Ancient Roman poem: The Aeneid) or the world of music/opera (For Dmitri Shostakovich; Sadko) or the world of history (Ovid in exile; Shakespeare’s history plays). **In 2018, I painted a five-panel polyptych in oils based on The Iliad, The Aeneid and The Odyssey. These are post-minimalist and extremely reductionist. **From 2015 to 2017 I produced abstract paintings, two works based on poems by Lorca and an installation (Coit Tower, San Francisco) based on white/white ceramic cylinders. **From 2014 to 2016, I worked on a series ‘Views from Venetian Fortress Rethymno, Crete’ which explore different levels of figuration/abstraction. **From 2006 to 2014, I worked on a major series of still lifes called "˜The Art of Still Life: Theme and Variations'. There are 45 variations plus 3 intermezzos in the series. The theme is a charcoal drawing and the variations are in oils. The project's objective was to extend the possibilities of the still-life genre by introducing cryptic, autobiographical, musical, literary and mythical/religious (Greek/Hindu) elements into the paintings. The resulting paintings are original, daring, visionary and sometimes futuristic. The body of work can be seen as part memoirs/confessional, part closely-observed still-lifes. I've sold my work in the UK and abroad. Selected Group Exhibitions The Centre for Strategy & Communication, London (2011, 2010) Llewellyn Alexander Gallery, London (2002) Morley College Gallery, London (2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 etc) Gibraltar International Art Exhibition, Gibraltar (2009) Westminster Central Hall, London (1998)