Recent studies using mixed media on card, paper and sketchbooks have been leading to much more free and abstracted pieces that is the way I’m trying to push forward into more poetic, less pictorially restricted territory… ‘Flowing Through Space’ (top-left) was a bit of a breakthrough. Many of these pieces are moving fluidly through city and landscape waymarks working from sketches, memory, sometimes photos or other distorted images, a mix of these or from other pieces, essentially distilling the process. Nevertheless I’m trying to keep it real! by not overworking and not too flat. So it can be pretty hit and miss!
Okamoto Taro (mid to late 20thC Japan), whose spirit and passion for art I really admire, said ‘Art is Magic.’ Although I don’t go for all his work his sculpture and D&P was often free and playful and he never wanted anything to get in the way of experiencing his work, such as any artistic compromise or even just framing with glass which apparently particularly upset him. Picasso was also perfectly on the ball when he said ‘Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.’