Abstract Skin Study II Painting

I am a painter originally from Anglesey, North Wales and currently based in Cardiff. My paintings are self portraits, studies of surface and an exploration of the barrier between the abstract and the figurative. I create artwork that investigates the ‘human condition’, which is defined by the oxford dictionary as: “the characteristics and key events which compose the essentials of human existence, such as birth, growth, emotionality and mortality”. I paint skin as it has a role in all of this; both the inner emotional ego and outer physical experiences of life. My works attempt to deconstruct the idea of skin as a surface, examining it at its most basic levels; a barrier between innards and the outside and an envelope that contains our being. I aim to portray flesh physically and tangibly; to push away from traditional representations of the human body. The viewer should feel as if they could reach into the depiction and grab the flesh within. The subject of my pieces has become almost secondary, my work investigates a tension between picture-as-object and picture-as-representation; it is sometimes through curation that this aspect of my work is fully activated. By painting on stretched canvas and then deconstructing it into individual constituents, my works border into the realm of sculpture. My pieces remain grounded in painting tradition and yet explore the boundaries of what defines ‘painting’ in a contemporary context. My process is completely organic; everything down to where I place the turpentine and palette impacts the piece. I attempt to think about these details as little as possible before I embark on producing a work, in that way each mark made in the midst of creative flow is completely spontaneous, something which gives my work a visual viscosity and fluidity.