About My Work
Over the long period of my career a lot of people have asked, "What kind of work do you do?" A difficult question you may ask. In such situations it’s always handy to have a photo but even so people will ask "Well how do you classify this?"
I could say its either a process of ‘existentialism’ or ‘It is what it is’. I prefer the latter approach.
Yet I still struggle for a catchword. I think of Jackson Pollock dribbling paint. Abstract expressionism? No I don’t paint like that, very close though. There is a process of blending here not evident in Pollock’s work. It seems the very antithesis of cubism, as the end result of my work is a synthesis of two forces thrown into chaos which is the very opposite of analytical cubism.
Photographic realism? Some of my work looks very photographic but has arrived not by a conscious imitation but more like a process of ‘stream of consciousness’ as do the authors Thomas Beckett and Virginia Wolfe.
For a start I don’t paint with a brush unless I apply glazes. On the surface it appears that my work is accident, like the abstract expressionist. Yes there is that element, yet like the abstract expressionist there is a plan, a strategy of advancing and retarding hues and gradations of colour placed in mathematical sequences, then comes the naked act of destructive chaos that brings about a synthesis. The analogous composition has its own reality hence hence ‘Chaotic Realism’.
I don’t profess for a minute that hence chaotic realism is anything new. Abstract art is parallel to music in that the artists are visual philosophers. Since photography we don’t paint ‘as it is’ but how ‘it could be’ and here is how our belief systems influence (consciously or unconsciously) our work.
Chaotic realism is very much part of the discovery of Hagel, "Thesis vs Antithesis = Synthesis" e.g. oil paint vs watercolour = marble effects. But if you know what colour goes in a certain order the desired result can be anticipated.
The unpredictability can often surprise us beyond our expectations. Accident? Not really. They are calculated and after all the chaos can be contained within certain bounds. There are many combinations of colour in the way it advances and recedes, whether it is harmonic, dissonant, high key, shade, contrast, etc. Much of this is the same vocabulary as music. What does Beethoven’s 5th look like? Did John Lennon create the orange sound? Should we start writing music in colour?
I don’t believe that most of my clients make a conscious decision to buy my work. People either like it or not, it seems to be a gut feeling, it is very much an intuitive act.
I too seem to paint on an intuitive level. I had a studio at Hereford Street, Christchurch, where I opened it to the public on the weekends. Artists should have an interactive relationship with their clients. I found that there was certain chemistry, a certain sounding board of ideas that I had with the public.
Very rarely have I had any problem with the public. I have even sold paintings to people who say, "What’s this supposed to be?" There is a valuable role an artist can play in educating the public and being educated by the public. When I was at art school we were forced to go out onto the street and subject ourselves to the critical eye of ‘experts’ and ‘vagabonds’ alike. A rich and rewarding experience, an exercise every institution should practice. |
