WORK IN PROGRESS

YESTERDAY: On Facebook, I commented that I should do some art inspired by the view from my window.

TODAY: Seems all I needed was some perspective..!

Above: Latest work in progress, acrylic on canvas, 60cm x 60cm

THIS WAY...UP?

I love seeing how people orientate my paintings. I never tell them which is the right way up because I don't even know.

Below: Controlled Explosion and Supercollider

( as currently seen in South Orange, New Jersey ).

'SHOP' TALK

Experimenting with Photoshop shapes today, inspired by some of the pieces at the BPN exhibition.

GRAN FUTURISMO

Looking back at various artworks, to progress to a new phase.

My installation ( including my shoes for Buckefeet ) as part of Antone Douglas's CONCEPT ROOM show, Oct 2015:

Below: GOOGLE EARTH, Acrylic On Canvas, 140cm x 110cm, 2013.

Below: ASTYANAX, Acrylic On Canvas, 101cm x 76cm, 2013.

Below: FIELDS OF HYPERION, Acrylic On Canvas, 101cm x 76cm, 2011.

BPN ARCHITECTS: FINAL DAY / INTO THE FOLD

The sharp edges made by the sun add further dimensions to the compositions: It becomes an evolving piece of art. It was great to finish off with the contrast of white-on-black, 'folding' around the corners of the space.

Note the reflective triangular 'pools' in the middle picture.

BPN ARCHITECTS: FINAL DAY / DOORS OF PERCEPTION

'There are things known, and things unknown, and in between are the doors.'

- Aldous Huxley

As the end of the project approached, I wanted to do something in the street itself, but we'd spent a disproportionate amount of time adding spontaneous designs in response to the shape of BPN's building.

Having gotten permission from the owner of the building across the street, while Rob finished the designs on BPN's outer wall, I set about sweeping the pavement opposite and then trying to fix black tape to the brick walls. This was a dead-end: The walls were so crumbly and dusty that the tape just fell off as soon as the breeze picked it up.

Instead, I wiped down the green wooden doors, and found that the tape just about stayed put.

Again, I went off-brief, and decided to comment on the state of the building by depicting a series of 'collapsed doorways'.

Rob joined me to complete the final doorway. After two weeks, he was familiar with my core idea - that is, when something looks too uniform, throw in an anomaly, or a 'mistake'. He suggested a single white stripe on each design, which I thought was a great idea.

None of my art conforms strictly to the notion of 'geometric art', because uniformity or symmetry is something I can appreciate, but personally is not satisfying to me. 

Ideally, I'd love the viewer to spend long enough in front of my art to follow where it's going, and then be surprised by something that should not be there. And they would know that the decision was made to put it in deliberately, and I'd want them to ask 'why?'

But I'm also a realist. People will most likely look at the art and not realise that they're supposed to spend a great deal of time on it, and just think 'cool design' and leave it at that. Which is also fine.

The same week also saw the occurrence of a devastating earthquake in Northern Italy, and when seen altogether, these broken portals, along with the general dilapidation of the building, appear to be an echo of that.

I, VOYAGER

ASTYANAX ( a 2013 painting I named after a character from The Odyssey, which I was listening to on my iPod at the time ), has flown back from Soho, NYC, and is now residing in London.

I love the mix of cold blues and greys, and cadmium red. I must progress this style further.

Acrylic on Canvas, 101cm x 76cm.

BPN ARCHITECTS: SECOND PHASE DAY 2

Experimenting with anamorphic shapes today...the image below should suddenly resolve into a solid shape when you walk by a certain spot on the pavement.

Pic shows fellow artist Rob Walsh, who's helping me with the install.

Very pleased with the sculptural quality of the image ( below ).

BPN ARCHITECTS: SECOND PHASE BEGINS

Started work on the new image, a cluster of abstract skyscrapers, plus experimenting with floor effects.

WORK IN PROGRESS [ updated from 27/04/2016 ]

SEPTEMBER: Looking forward to picking up where I left off, back in April.

As-yet-untitled: Acrylic on canvas, 50cm x 75cm

As featured in the Junction Festival, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, July 2016.

Click here to see what it used to look like.