Preview
1st July 2015 / 6pm – 8pm / FREE
Exhibition
2nd – 25th July 2015

My “ideology” is pretty much based on a belief in the importance of art as both a maker and consumer. Art provides the means by which I can experience and/or record certain states of mind that I simply cannot access through rational thought alone.

Gerhard Richter believes that painting is a different kind of thinking. Also he points out that “by conveying a thing through the medium of language, you change it. You construct qualities that can be said, and you leave out the ones that can’t be said but are always the most important.”

The materials I use to make paintings or prints are building blocks to help me construct the work. The way the materials behave when I use them does influence the “mood” of the work. Chance plays a significant role too – something I encourage through different approaches to creating an image. This can be as simple as trying to “switch off’, avoiding conscious control.

Sometimes the initial concept can be totally obliterated through working and re-working. Interestingly new opportunities often emerge phoenix-like from the residue of an aborted strategy in an attempt to simply “get it right”.

Smears, runs, drips and mishaps in general can suggest a fresh new approach. In printmaking, the practitioner regularly faces a myriad of technical challenges that creates ample opportunity to be creative in dealing with the pitfalls of the medium. There is real satisfaction in problem solving, in overcoming adversity.