I am interested in exploring our perception of the structure of our external surroundings through reforming the spatial form of painting. In particular, I aim to reorganise the form of painting by observing nature’s very own structures, producing paintings that explore the balance and forms manifested in nature. In this sense, my practice becomes cyclical: I observe nature’s structures to reform painting so that it aids further exploration of our perception of external surroundings. For example, by using negative space I tease out literal emptiness in the painting that can only be filled by the viewer. In this way, I turn the artist’s leading role to a facilitator of the viewer’s own perspective: the viewer’s way of seeing therefore becomes an intrinsic, personal, part of the discovery of the image as a whole – which only they, through the history, customs, aesthetics, rules, and so on – can experience.
To aid in my exploration I invented a hardened paint that detaches from backing and floats inside or in-between frames. It enables me to turn flat images into a three-dimensional sculptural painting, and importantly creates a situation where I can let the paint stand for itself. As in nature, balance in the painting is created by the force of pulling between paints on each other, volume is created by the conflict between the force working between two parts of the paint, and patterns are created by accident through pushing and pulling the paint from one point to another.
Through constant experimentation, I create connections between image and structure, and through this interaction I explore the possibility of sculptural painting and the order created by its internal logic. It is the path of experimentation that allows me challenge the boundary between possible and impossible and this challenge is rooted in my art philosophy. My sense-making and understanding of the order of the world is done through experimentation and discovery and questioning how knowledge systems and cultural experience influence our ways of seeing. This creates a tension I try to balance between the product of my own journey of discovery and the aim for my paintings to be a neutral enabler for the viewer’s own interpretation of their experience.