Casu Cundhidu Photograph

1982
Born in Hull, England

Lives and works in London

Infinite amounts of images pass before our eyes daily, ironically we only see bits. This mass of images produces an almost blinding effect, a kind of selective myopia. I collect these images, words and occurrences, using them in the way that you would use templates. Personal photographs, obscure advertising and images from the media, all become part of the selection process. I work like this in order to build a painting rather than endeavouring to convey an easily readable subject. I bring images to my paintings that are recognisable and place them in a melee of what is ultimately a wealth of lines and forms. I remain committed to exploring this unlimited territory, in a nearly obsessive investigation.

I usually work in an improvisational way. I find this allows for a trial and error approach. I often do not know exactly how my paintings are going to turn out because I do not start with a clear idea. Things I have hoarded, have been looking at, or I have heard, generally begin to filter through into the painting, often subconsciously.

These 'things' then become part of a cataloging process, where the canvas, board or paper, at first appearing as a generic empty filing cabinet, is turned into an elaborate library of often-illogical information.
The impulsive selection of random images of objects, places and sounds echoes the technique of the artworks production, which becomes an expressive operation. This allows me to explore how much I can simplify before the objects and the images I obsessively meddle with become unrecognisable.

Sometimes I may reduce the aspect of chance, controlling the paint and composition, capturing these images and objects as if in a cage. In a sense I become the Gang Leader ordering and directing those objects together so that they touch, hide and crop one another in ways that alter even the most recognizable features. In others, the same images are treated as distinct organisms, gathered on the surface and given status. It is here that the viewer investigates the paintings and makes their perceptions of whatever beast is held within.

I am able to emphasize the shapes and profiles of objects in my work, distinguishing them by shifts in colour, but unifying them with the application of paint.