I call this series Celestial Debris – the work came about as a response to the challenge of making ‘something out of nothing’ – to take objects that would normally be discarded and use them to create something of beauty and value that invites contemplation. As alchemy is an attempt to transform mundane materials into gold, so this intricate process results in the magical exaltation of the every day object. The intense visions of colour in the work connect to the playful joy of viewing patterns of change and beauty through a kaleidoscope, but are also reminiscent of a deeper, universal awareness of forms that occur, for instance in Oriental art, Celtic illuminated books, ancient Mayan pictograms, hieroglyphs etc.
PERSONAGES
CARPET MONOPRINTS
CROSS CARPET MONOPRINTS
PLASTIC TRAY MONOPRINTS
NEW YORK PRINTS
Each picture is unique and is made by inking up pieces of packaging and found objects, then using a variety of unorthodox printing techniques to produce a complex multi-layered image of unusual shapes and shifting colour relationships. Only three coloured inks (magenta, cyan and yellow) are used, and the kaleidoscopic results are achieved by the orchestration of the plates at each stage of the printing process.
These richly textured and contoured islands of colour, animated by an intricate network of dynamic shapes and lines, create surprising effects of a strange beauty that resonate in the viewer’s imagination.