The Sun Also Rises
Oil and pigment on linen, with linen and canvas collage 50.8 x 40.64cm (16 x 20 inches)
This series draws on conversations with Polish war veterans and Holocaust survivors, in which an appreciation of the present moment, especially through nature & the immediate glimmer and warmth of the sun were recurring themes, alongside fragments of memories in a non-linear manner. Wordsworth’s ‘Spots of Time’ come to mind - pockets of powerful and profound recollection that evoke strong emotions, as well as a connection to nature and the sublime.
The paintings were created in Panama City, where fecund nature interacts amidst glossy mirrored sky-scrapers, with distorted reflections of psychedelic skies and luscious jungle-scapes. Collaged elements represent such skewed fragments of place and memory, juxtaposed with the universal symbolism of the sun suggesting a link between harmony and chaos.
Pigment is both beaten into the linen, and applied with delicate mixtures of oils, paints and mediums to produce an array of different depths and translucencies of colour. This approach requires patience, instinct & a relationship with the immediacy of nature, with instinctive marks and long drying times. Hand-made earth and rock pigments give a direct connection to place, and immediate relationship with time, as well as the memory of the material holding its own ancient memory.
Taking its title from Hemmingway’s seminal novel, ‘The Sun also Rises,’ which portrays a lost post war generation, impotently navigating post war morals and spiritual dissolution, the work celebrates the uncontrollable and ever present sun as a symbol of continuity, and considers the place of the universal today.
The paintings were created in Panama City, where fecund nature interacts amidst glossy mirrored sky-scrapers, with distorted reflections of psychedelic skies and luscious jungle-scapes. Collaged elements represent such skewed fragments of place and memory, juxtaposed with the universal symbolism of the sun suggesting a link between harmony and chaos.
Pigment is both beaten into the linen, and applied with delicate mixtures of oils, paints and mediums to produce an array of different depths and translucencies of colour. This approach requires patience, instinct & a relationship with the immediacy of nature, with instinctive marks and long drying times. Hand-made earth and rock pigments give a direct connection to place, and immediate relationship with time, as well as the memory of the material holding its own ancient memory.
Taking its title from Hemmingway’s seminal novel, ‘The Sun also Rises,’ which portrays a lost post war generation, impotently navigating post war morals and spiritual dissolution, the work celebrates the uncontrollable and ever present sun as a symbol of continuity, and considers the place of the universal today.