Artist Statement
While focusing on the compositional aspects of abstract painting, I also wish to evoke a sense of the wider context of communication - not only inviting the viewer to engage with the visual syntax but also for them to be aware of the expressive and personalised nuances that contribute to the overall effect and impact of what is expressed and how it’s received. Enjoying the richness of variation involved in communication, I want to interact and not merely present. Therefore, while exploring the structural elements I am conscious too of the resonances the different qualities of marks bring; or the varying tonal contrasts, clarity of stroke, texture of line and how it might end.
A painting sits between the maker and the receiver and, while being the vehicle for me to express ideas for you, the recipient, to consider, I also want to suggest the possibilities of what might lie behind what I offer. By leaving evidence of the maker in my works and traces of past thoughts, maybe errors of judgement, I wish to evoke an idea of the interface between me and what I communicate. And by sometimes incorporating faint shadows behind, I hope to suggest a sense of what lies between the emotion within and the more measured bearing I present in the social world. An idea of the Transitional Space where I negotiate what to share with the world, and how, and what to keep hidden.
Background Context
Having worked as a paediatric Speech and Language Therapist for many years before switching the balance of activity in my life and placing art at the centre, this interest in the visual language of abstract art reflects my understanding of the components of language and communication in a wider sense. I am fascinated by the interplay between form, content and use (the syntax, semantics and pragmatics) and intrigued by the idiosyncrasies and ambiguities that arise from minor shifts in choices of arrangement.
I have a studio at 44AD, in the centre of Bath, I am also actively involved in Fringe Arts Bath (FAB) and co-ordinate and curate the Bath Open Art Prize which takes place annually for a fortnight from the last weekend in May.