BFAP Magazine 2023 - Flipbook - Page 17
How do you know when a piece of
work is finished?
My process of painting is to
repeatedly abstract and reconfigure
the image until the piece strikes an
equilibrium of realism and distortion.
I continuously swipe away or smear
with a large brush to build layers of
reminisce. The marks act almost as if
ghosts of a moment have come and
gone or trace of the imagined. They
produce a flatness which I can build
up to make areas of uncertainty or
chaos which are then undermined
by a more vocal figure. Working
predominantly wet on wet, oil on
board, allows for me to work back
into layers, continually manipulating
the image, contorting and reforming
a figure until it reaches the point I am
content with.
Who are your biggest artist
influences?
Study for back-seat driver
2023
Oil on acetate
20 x 25 cm
BFAP
I look at artists such as Luc Tuymans
and Marlene Dumas. I find they're
work impactful in the fact that they
are able to represent such a powerful
configuration of human emotion
through limited colour palette and
mark making. I am also intrigued
by their abilities to display a piece
which is morality-conflicting
but simultaneously sensitive and
dreamlike. They use the figure as a
vessel to display anxiety and present
human emotion while also producing
work with ambiguity to allow
the audience to project their own
narratives. These are elements I strive
to encompass in my own practice.
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2023