Complex Notes, Artist Statement
Here is the artist statement for my upcoming body of work, Complex Notes. These works will be available through Aesthete Fine Arts after April 16th.
In the wake of the pandemic, following a period of social distancing, there seems to be a collective call for regrouping, both socially, and internally. The last two years have felt less linear, less predictable, and less hopeful than many years before. In painting these works, I thought about different emotions that may be familiar in this time, and have tried to express them as a kind of place, often using figurative references as a way of depicting that place within a body.
This collection of painted works explores relationships between emotions, body, and land. Where self-portraits often depict the physical form, these paintings serve as explorations of the inner self, painted in tandem with practices exploring the subconscious. However, the word “subconscious” seems to conjure an image of something other than human, whereas, the idea of soul seems to be more connected to the idea of personhood and personality. These works are influenced by the body, but they strive to depict the essence of a person, through reaching to the subconscious, or in my preferential wording, the soul.
Rather than self-portraits, I like to think of them as soul portraits.
Bodies are complex places, and today more than ever, they live in a complex world. Minds must grapple with unprecedented concerns, such as the climate crisis, unpredictable health issues, political uncertainties, and a host of unjust situations for many. Not only are these predicaments a reality; society is also becoming more complex, more fast paced. As a result, it seems that life itself is a cacophony of calls for time, resources, emotional energy, and rapid adaptation. Life is overwhelming. In response, things that are slow and old seem to shine in a new light. What nourishes the soul becomes a priority, in a culture that has discarded use for even the idea of one. This motivates me to create these soul portraits, reaching far beyond traditional tropes of the human figure, into the abyss of the subconscious.
When I painted these works, I considered the complexity of existence: untold numbers of barely noticeable nuances of perception converging, influencing all experiences of life. Reality itself, channelled through a series of filters, mediated by senses, contextualized by a long list of determinants, simply is what it is. In considering the variables that flow together to make this life all that it is, it seems right to consider the experience of human existence a constellation, a composition, or an epic. Through this body of work, I propose another metaphor through alluding to land. Merging themes of body and land into a single composition, I aim to tether the experiences of human and earth back together, as the separation between the two has always only ever been an intricate illusion.
In creating these works, I considered the complexity of perception mediated by senses, as I worked with elements of chance, detail, rhythm, and transparency. Each of those adding their own character to the work; converging contributions for the greater whole to ponder. Each work is at once a landscape, a body, a soul, and this is to say, these are always only ever one and the same.