For 15 years now I have painted a line at the center of my paintings. Some would call this a horizon—some describe it as a place of contemplation and longing. For me the line has been a highly charged illusive place, both sacred and alluring. In some respects the line is a portal to a place one veil removed–an idea beyond our reach–a placeless place –a realm, which exists in my dreams and my imagination. The line continues to hold me.
It is a coming together of apparent contradictions and oppositions, which unfailingly continue to shake my center of gravity.
Each painting is a unique exploration and each one begins within a known and predictable framework – what seems like a known finite study – and yet they seem to go to the infinite and the whole. They seem to invite an intense range of colour, texture and atmosphere. And each one has a liminal place–a place in between two places–an in between which is open to change and renewal. When I paint I try to become detached from the world even though I can only contemplate what I know. In this seemingly contradictory process I strive to both reflect and to receive. This longing at the line is where I most want to be. When you work to bring together the two you allow the process to let the unknown enter the work. In this way I gently submit to intuition, perhaps making room for inspiration to connect with and challenge the familiar.
In my experience beauty is a condition where the concrete and the ambiguous occur simultaneously and in harmony.
