Paintings(1982-1989)

From 1982 onwards, the size and format of most of my paintings grew considerably, sometimes producing new concepts and new shapes, challenging traditional formats with voids, and exploring the third dimension. I felt that the scale of each work often demanded different techniques to best express my visual ideas, hence the introduction, at this stage, of muslin on paper (images; studio installation). Some paintings of this period - ‘Garden of Expectation’ 1985–86, ‘Enchantments of Sky, Sea and Earth’ 1986, ‘Caravan of Contenders’ 1984–86, ‘Harbour of Intimacy’ 1986, ‘Squaring the Circle’ 1986–89, ‘World of Wonders’ 1986–87, ‘Carpet of Contemplation’ 1987–88, ‘Splendour of Multiplicity’ 1987–88, ‘Chorus of Heavenly Spirits’ 1987–88 (images) - formed the core of my exhibition of new work at the Winchester Art Gallery in 1987 (image), organised by John Gillett and Alison Redwood. Following that exhibition, some of the paintings from that period have been reworked. Since 1990, all my paintings have been on a versatile wood support, which stands half an inch away from the wall. This device articulates and enhances my new concepts of ‘volumetric’ and of ‘pregnant space’, as the paintings appear to float away from the wall surface, adding a third dimension to my pictorial language. The earliest of the oil paintings on wood are ‘Emblem of Ecstasy’ and ‘Silence before the Storm’ of 1990 (image). Both are contemplative in concept, using what I have termed ‘pregnant space’ as an iconic motif or technique. Along with my parallel concept of ‘volumetric space’, almost all my paintings of the 1990’s make use of these two motifs or techniques, which appear central to my work of that period. In ‘Birds of Breath’ 1991-92, (image), the ‘cut out’ birds are not represented visually, but rather through the ‘pregnant’ or full/empty space that their form occupies. Moreover, each bird is so carved and cut out that one sees them from different angles, thus suggesting their ‘volumetric space’. For me, these two motifs or techniques arose out of the continuing 20th century fascination with the exploration of space, both in the framework of making contemporary works of art, and of the growing obsession with interplanetary dimensions. In my work, I imagine these continuously shifting and changing gravity-free vantage points as analogous to the image of the floating thread ball seen unwinding itself perpetually in 360 degrees. From this, I conceived the notion of ‘Geometry without Gravity’ as a recurrent leitmotif in my work, while at the same time attempting to invent a fresh and unique format, size and surface texture for each painting. This leitmotif was inspired by the dramatic images of man’s exploration of space beyond our planet, showing the exquisite grace, beauty and weightlessness of a human body in constant dynamics. To me, grappling – however humbly – with these techniques mirrors that process of momentous Auseinandersetzung with Cézanne’s visionary late paintings, with their patterning of paint on the flat canvas to depict the subject observed, which led Braque and Picasso to invent Cubism, with its assembling of multiple vantage points circling the subject observed into an autonomous, quasi-abstract composition. I am particularly concerned in questioning two of the fundamental techniques in the craft of depiction: the vanishing point perspective which uses shadows in Western art and Eastern art’s creation of shadow less overlapping space. My endeavours in this respect can be seen in ‘Towards Transfiguration’ 1990–96, ‘Bathers’ 1993, ‘Metamorphoses’ 1993, ‘Changeable Garden 1992, ‘Vessel of Vitality’ 1993–96, ‘Whispering Wings’ 1990–95, ‘Mother of Battles [Modern Times]’ 1990–94, ‘Guardians of the Garden’ 1993–97 and ‘Landscape of Longing 1996–99, (images). ‘Square and Secrets’ 1994–96, with its variable measurements, is the first work which has unique interchangeable formats in the same painting (image).