wipe away and break the surface ( grazed and bruised ) Painting

Some paintings are slow burners or are born out of long labors. Work on ‘wipe away and break the surface’ began in early 2012 and the painting was completed to a fashion but I was very unsatisfied with the result so it was stacked in a pile of other canvases I was not entirely happy with and stayed there disregarded until winter. I pulled the canvas out to paint over the surface to begin a new painting on it. My plan was to paint over the work with a layer of pale blue leaving that to dry, applying a coat of white and then begin a new work from scratch. A day after applying the blue I happened to be staring at it in the studio, the painting sitting on an easel. For some unknown reason I walked up to it with a rag that had some turpentine on it and wiped away a little of the pale blue surface paint from the top edge. I stood back and thought on this some more for a while, then took my rag and whipped away some more areas of the surface. The now broken surface showing the dots and splashes of paint from the previous years painting. I liked its minimalist quality, I liked the idea that the broken surface only gave a hint at what lie underneath, an opening into a cavern or void, something mysterious, unrecognizable laying beyond. The painting ( titled ‘fades to monochrome’ at that time ) was then shown at an exhibition in the summer of 2013. Once the exhibition was over and the painting returned to the studio. In the winter of 2014 I sparingly added dots and splashes of paint to the surface, now breaking up the pale blue field of color and retitled the work to ‘untitled’. On re-photographing the painting for my own records and to up-date online posts in spring of 2016 the painting was once again retitled to its existing title of ‘wipe away and break the surface ( grazed and bruised )’ which just seemed to fit a painting that had in a way been pulled and bashed and scraped into its final finished nature. The pale blue surface that covers the biggest percentage of surface area is a veil or a thin skin, broken, the contents within ( particles of a substance, grains of sand, tiny jewels or just particles of something or other, what, is not important ) beginning to spill, or really, in this case, more, float out, or maybe float in. In the winter of 2011 I had begun to take interest in dust particles created from the crumbling surfaces of corroding materials such as concrete, plaster and rusting metal. Marks and splatters of spray from spray caned graffiti also became a point of reference. I was looking at a way of breaking down the solidness in my work, to create separation; similar to the idea in science that mass and the solid are made from many particles vibrating together. These observations of the dust of decay and thoughts on the solid being made of separate particles led to experiments in creating a similar texture in oil paint to that of the corrosion dust and spray paint. Through loading a brush with thinned paint and tapping the brush I achieved desired effects. These paintings are concerned with integration/disintegration, form/formlessness, existence/non-existence, instability and the transient nature of life and phenomena. Echoing our modern times where much that has been relied upon and trusted as substantial, solid and unchanging has been questioned and broken down. These themes and ideas being informed by my own practice of Nichiren Buddhism and the study of Buddhist concepts that discuss the transience of life and all phenomena as well as the cyclical nature of life and death. The ideas behind the work have also been influenced by earlier interest in Taoism. The Tao concept of ‘Way’ through which all things arise and pass away; the distinction between being ( yu ) and nonbeing ( wu ) is also present in the ideas behind these paintings. 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. And, the concepts of silence and emptiness as expressed in Ch’an ( Zen ) Buddhism. 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. 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.

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.