ARTIST STATEMENTS :

SHARDS:

 The space seen through a window is clear and unambiguous. But shatter the glass and the remaining shards radically distort simple visual perception.

 The stylised “shards” in the canvas “windows” which make up this series, create a different kind of ambiguity. In some, the triangle becomes a portal which leads to a distant opening revealing a mysterious space beyond.

In others, the triangle becomes a kind of ziggurat which appears to rise above the canvas.

 The result is a series of works that are visual paradoxes.

They create, what could be called ”an active stillness”, an effect made more intense by their sumptuously simple color.

PARALLELS:

 In his excellent little book ”The Devil’s Cloth- A History of Stripes”, Michel Pastoureau asserts that “ The stripe doesn’t wait, doesn’t stand still. It is in perpetual motion, that’s why it has always fascinated artists: painters, photographers, filmmakers. It animates all it touches, endlessly forges ahead as though driven by the wind.”

I thoroughly concur and it’s why, since my first solo exhibition in 1966, stripes have been a recurring device in my work. The Parallels Suite continues this fascination.

I like to think of these new works, particularly “Parallels 2-Celebration”,as being like a symphony orchestra in full flight: the stripes as the instruments- sonorous ultramarines, greens  and crimson in harmony with high pitched 

orange,green, cadmium and sky blue. Like the strings,brass, woodwinds and percussion of the orchestra, each coloured stripe contributes to the final performance.