Artist Statement

 

I create bold expressive non-figurative paintings using acrylic paint, which seek to resolve the conflict between my formal training in Graphic Design, a late diagnosis of ADHD and my desire to create raw painterly compositions. Organising and creating systems has always been a dominant, and at times overwhelming feature of my day to day life. To function effectively in the world, I am forced to adhere to a rigid set of “rules”, which can often feel restrictive and controlled. Whether this is a natural inherent part of my personality or a coping mechanism from years of undiagnosed ADHD, I do not know. It was however exasperated, by my formal training in Graphic Design, which is also defined by organisation systems too. In response to these things, I find myself seeking to create loose, informal, irregular solutions, to my compositions. My motivation is to create a sense of vague haphazard disorder. 

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Kandinsky and in particular the women of the post-World War II New York School have always been my fascination. Like these artists, I explore how each of the elements within my compositions bring individual meaning to the whole. I am fascinated with how colour is an object in itself and how the unity and harmony within a work changes, depending on how the colour and marks within the piece relate to each other. My intention is to arrive at a place where I feel there is a cohesive unity between the colour, texture, lines and the marks I make. This is a cathartic experience which soothes my anxiety and liberates the constraints imposed on my soul.

 

My work evolves through a series of sittings. Initially, I lay down a whimsical ground that is intuitive and not planned. I focus on composition and pay sparse attention to palette, creating problems and disturbances in balance, which I set myself the challenge of resolving. I then move to a more considered phase, where I begin to piece together, rearrange, and alter the visual elements which I have made. Similar to the puzzle-like structures which sometimes feature in my work, the final result is a sort of ‘fitting’ together of the hastily applied background with a more defined, detail-oriented foreground.