virgilio - Limited Edition 1 of 10 Print

I am an interdisciplinary practitioner, printmaker, and painter whose work also extends into ceramics and sculpture. I experiment with various techniques and express myself using a wide range of materials and processes. Through the intuitive nature of my work, the element of discovery is of the most significance, allowing accidents and mistakes to occur. Although, sometimes I deliberately provoke them, my interest is to develop flexible thinking and to improve my visual language challenging at the same time the hegemony of the two-dimensional art disciplines. Often my interest revolves around the simplification of abstract forms that arise from the interpretation of the figurative image. A process that, I believe, allows the viewer to make their own interpretation of a piece of art. I strive to create a space where the public can interact with their imagination and realize the fictionality of the perception created by our unconscious. My work is an ever-evolving process, it can start with collages made up of discarded defective prints, or it can derive from collected, exhibition, ephemera. I manipulate my elements, choose one print, and work in various ways. I dissolve, push, pull, deconstruct, construct, and collapse the image resulting in a process of constant abstraction and figuration. As I don’t have a preconceived idea it’s a call-and-response outcome. The 2D collages reach out in relief, they feel sculptural in themselves, I take the opportunity from these 2D collages to go into 3D sculpture and then back to the 2D painting, which is a back-and-forth process mirroring the work of Michael Landy and his collages. My practice is drawn from a range of sometimes contradictory sources, on the one hand, I am attracted to the simplicity and minimalism of jazz player Miles Davis’ “Siesta" and "Human Nature". The empty spaces in between the solos inspire me and inform my work. The same occurs with painters Agnes Martin and Elsworth Kelly, parts of their paintings rest from shapes and colors, they consist of an empty breathing space next to the simplicity of the form. At the same time, I am drawn to the materiality of Amy Sillmans and Gillian Ayres. Their work infuses the complexity of the layers of paint and paper showing the history of the process and the interaction between the shapes, colors, and the idea of mark-making. I perceive my work as spontaneous and playful, intuitively mixing elements from both observation and imagination.