The Reluctant Picket Painting

“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes… Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an exploration into unknown areas.” I adore the above quote from Arshile Gorky. I’ve recently moved from illustrating in the figurative ‘frozen moments in time’ mode to painting the intuitive flow of interior feeling states. Furthermore, I believe it’s the capability of the artist to experience a world beyond what we physically see and to render that vision, those emotions, onto their medium of choice. It’s also the ability of the audience to connect with the artists’ intention and free their own minds of visual pre-conceptions. Abstraction finds its roots in intuition and freedom, both for the artist and the viewer! We can give up anything except the desire to create… I think it’s a fundamental part of the human brain. A lifetime working as a designer has given me more influences than I care to count. I hope my abstract work echoes a deeper truth in others... the complete opposite of the nightmare of materialism. Painting is only marks on a surface, but consciousness is in the marks. II’d like my viewers to engage with that noumenal quality in my paintings. In short, there shouldn’t be any MUST in art! It’s all about exploration and nothing should be off limits. Never a purist... I am passionate about playing with all sorts of mediums and techniques in pursuit of creative expression… As well as traditional paint on canvas, I’m also happy to play with digital media and photography. The potential is endless. Sadly, the art world seems to want artists the ‘style’ themselves… to give the impression that their work is consistent and coherent. One could say seamless! Whereas, in my experience at least, work in progress is disjointed and sometimes messy. Just like life :-)