ARTIST'S STATEMENT
In both art and life, my philosophy can be summed up in the words of E M Forster: “Balance should be arrived at as the outcome of a battle between conflicting values, it should not be the starting point. Otherwise, the result is mediocrity.”
Light illuminates, but can dazzle and blind; darkness mystifies, but can cause gloom if unrelieved. The right balance is not half-light, which renders everything gray and dull, but a play of brilliant light and deep shadow, which transforms blank walls into patterned canvases, empty rooms into poetic spaces. A dialectic between strong opposing elements, gracefully synthesized, results in harmony. To achieve this synthesis is always my aim.
As an interior architect, I work at sculpting form and space. Given a set of spaces, I envision an alternative reality, and then flesh it out in three dimensions – wall, floor, ceiling. Then I paint with light and shade, dramatizing features, obscuring others, cloaking rooms in mood and mystery, until the vision comes to life.
As a painter, I do the reverse. I strive to reflect my perception of reality - form, space, light, shadow - onto a flat plane, using charcoal and pigments, sharp sticks and brushes, until a new space opens up within the blank sheet.
The first half of my life has been spent developing my personal approach in dealing with issues of life, and issues of design. I now apply this same approach to art: to first define the essential nature of a subject, and then strengthen and refine it, making judicious choices, embracing challenge and complexity, and working towards harmony and balance.
Each of these canvases is a window into a world shaped by my experience, values and memories. In this way I allow others a glimpse of my own closely-guarded interior space – complex and half-lit, but very slowly acquiring a semblance of form.
Light illuminates, but can dazzle and blind; darkness mystifies, but can cause gloom if unrelieved. The right balance is not half-light, which renders everything gray and dull, but a play of brilliant light and deep shadow, which transforms blank walls into patterned canvases, empty rooms into poetic spaces. A dialectic between strong opposing elements, gracefully synthesized, results in harmony. To achieve this synthesis is always my aim.
As an interior architect, I work at sculpting form and space. Given a set of spaces, I envision an alternative reality, and then flesh it out in three dimensions – wall, floor, ceiling. Then I paint with light and shade, dramatizing features, obscuring others, cloaking rooms in mood and mystery, until the vision comes to life.
As a painter, I do the reverse. I strive to reflect my perception of reality - form, space, light, shadow - onto a flat plane, using charcoal and pigments, sharp sticks and brushes, until a new space opens up within the blank sheet.
The first half of my life has been spent developing my personal approach in dealing with issues of life, and issues of design. I now apply this same approach to art: to first define the essential nature of a subject, and then strengthen and refine it, making judicious choices, embracing challenge and complexity, and working towards harmony and balance.
Each of these canvases is a window into a world shaped by my experience, values and memories. In this way I allow others a glimpse of my own closely-guarded interior space – complex and half-lit, but very slowly acquiring a semblance of form.