tarnish in negative filter, black and blue Painting

‘tarnish in negative filter’ is a recycling of materials, ideas and images. I , like most people, take a fair amount of photos using my phone. My phone is a scrap-book of photos of things I come across in my environment when out walking in the town where I live or traveling around Taiwan, Europe and California. Images of mostly degrading construction materials or interesting textures I come across and almost always close-up shots rendering the actual object photographed unrecognizable, bringing out abstract qualities. I then, usually while killing time on a metro journey or a bus ride or lounging on the sofa, use the digital filters in the camera app on my phone to manipulate the images more. Some times from this may come an idea for a painting, a texture or a certain tonal or color quality will spark an idea which may lead to influencing a new piece of work in some way. I had an image of an older painting I had made (‘tarnish, dull the luster’ 2013) on my phone and began manipulating the image with the phones camera filters; increasing the contrasts, continually sharpening the image to give it more of a gritty appearance and finally using the negative filter. I really liked the image and decided to make a painting of it, although I do not copy images. If I do have an image on my phone that inspires painting then I tend to study it for a while over the course of a week or so and then stop looking at it altogether during the making of the work. The original image that created the inspiration just being a sub note, a reference point, the spark that began the creative thought process that leads to the making of work. I prefer working this way than making sketches. ‘tarnish in negative filter’ has been painted over an older painting. A painting that I felt had no depth and I had lost interest in. I had been thinking on making small alterations to the painting to improve it but eventually it was covered by the work that is now ‘tarnish in negative filter’. The painting appears to be black, indigo and predominantly white but the layers of paint under the white that show through are light gold, pinkish bronzes and light copper colors. For all the dullness of the black, indigo and white underneath lies something that desires to shine. A clouded and depressed exterior concealing the light of the sun. The compositional arrangement in these paintings have been considered from Japanese aesthetic principles such as Ma – to empty or open, and Wabi-sabi – valuing the quality of simple and plain objects. My growing interest in Dansaekhwa (Korean monochrome painting) has also informed the aesthetic of the work. I was conscious of the importance of space and emptiness, a space and emptiness for something to form, or the space and emptiness left where a form once was. This creation of negative space to give feelings of emptiness and silence has been informed by the concepts of silence and emptiness as expressed in Ch’an ( Zen ) Buddhism and found in Chinese Mountain and river poetry. The painting has been made by placing stretched canvas on the floor. A brush being loaded with paint and then tapped gently above the canvas to give a spray effect; the surface becoming made up of small dots and splashes of paint giving some surface texture; although this is quite minimal as the paint is heavily thinned. Layers of paint are applied one at a time; wet-on-wet or wet-on-dry, and each layer of varying tonal strengths to the last, depending on texture and visual effect desired. Painting is signed, dated and titled on rear. Ready for hanging and is signed and dated on rear of canvas.

Painting:Oil on Canvas

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:39.4 W x 39.4 H x 0.9 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.