Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Lines, Caught & Hung By Lines

The Lines, Caught
May 2010
Acrylic and Charcoal on canvas
96cm x 130cm











Hung By Lines
May 2010
Acrylic and Charcoal on canvas
96cm x 130cm

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Lines, Him

The Lines, Him
April 2010
Acrylic on canvas
140 x 193cm

Again I am working with the radiating lines, however I chose to make the piece more about how we are connected to the world on a more spiritual plane. I have used the idea of these light and dark lines creating the body as well as being emitted from it.
In religious iconography often the saints and prophets or whatever, have over sized eyes and ears (with which it is better to see and hear the lord) and are making symbols with their fingers.
I decided to go with the opposite and have neither eyes not ears or any real appendages, simply the halo around the head.
Think of it what you will, the piece isn't intended to be particularly religious, I simply prefer to put subtext such as that in to create interest and depth about the piece...
I want you to think when you view my work... at least a little.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

We Are Lines

We Are Lines
April 2010
Acrylic on canvas (blind I tore off the window)
77cm x 150cm







This is the first from my lines series; it began with the meditation on how we are connected on this plane, so I would sit at the train stop and imagine all the angles my body was creating, and the lines that would extend off these angles, radiating from me and then blending and connecting with my surroundings.

This is a brief and simple impression of two people perhaps just standing near each other, their heads tilted towards the sky, their bodies trailing into the ether. 
Most people view the ribs and gaping mouths as having to do with pain, but it's more to do with baring ones self, they are stripped down, their skin stretched over bone, naked, baring all and releasing whats within.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

When Two People

When Two Poeple
March 2010
Acrylic on canvas
96cm x 197cm

Emotions, when they are strong, often explode between people, whether it be love or anger, I wanted to show how this would look if we could strip things back, people down to their skeletons, and pull back a layer of the world to reveal emotions in a visible more tangible way. 
I painted this on my living room floor one morning... After scraping and smudging the paint with my hands and standing on chairs with tins of paint for the right affect I think I achieved a general sense of emotion that comes when two peoeple are together.

It's just a shame my carpet is now red and blue with white and yellow streaks... but it was worth it.

'Heart Back, Heart Front' & Pop Heart

Heart Front, Heart Back
March 2010
Acrylic on Canvas
93cm x 66cm each










Pop Heart
March 2010
Acrylic on canvas
93 x 66cm






The Pervert & The Apple Bobber


The Pervert
March 2010
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm












Painted with fingers and kitchen knives, These are the first two in a series which represent humanity as skeletons, moving about each other, all interacting and connecting, but in a way we're all just one thing.
The images I use are always quite literal, they look like breasts, not because they are supposed to hint at breasts, because they are breasts and I am representing sex or feeding the idea of devouring or being devoured is often a common theme that goes through my head when painting.

The Apple Bobber
March 2010
Acrylic on canvas
100cm x 100cm













I first used the symbol of the apple to represent life in It's simplest form, we eat the apple, we live to grow the apples which we then devour so we can live so we can then return it into the ground, so we can grow the apples... to live... etc. (it's a cycle comprendez vous?)
So I began this picture with life dangled on a string, the skeleton dancing around it.

The Artist' State

The Artist' State
February 2010
105cm x 150cm
Acrylic on canvas drop-sheet I used to have on the floor of my studio.

At a time when i hadn't painted for months and i reached a point of complete frustration and angst, I became carnal as I rolled and splashed paint over the canvas... to produce something I feel is so serene. It represents the state of mind I was in and the ego which takes over when i'm painting, that calm focus amongst the chaos of emotions and thoughts.