Yūgen 2016
Artist Statement- Yugen 2016
My paintings are a response to place.
Calligraphic letters, broken words and scribbles interplay with colour and light in response to personal experiences. The power to evoke rather than to state directly has always been at the heart of my abstract painting
This show title- Yugen is a Japanese word. A complex word even by Japanese standards. Yugen is to watch the sun sink behind a hill- the wonderment of a bamboo forest- tall and infinite. The principal shows that beauty exists when it is suggested- a few words, a few strokes can bring to mind that which has not been said.
This body of work have their beginnings in Japan. A country of contrasts- a sensory overload of chaos and calm. After our visit in 2015 I was overwhelmed with memories, images and experiences. It was some time before I could process the overload - let the needless drift away and then see all that is left behind- the opening sentence of a story.
The writing begins- jumbled, overlapped- erased. The looser scripts and scratchings interplay with colour and light specific to place. There is something comforting in the repetitive process of writing over and over in the transference of thought weaving in and out of the canvas. My process is exacting controlled and layered, repetitive letters become abstracted forms - areas dissolved and pared back as the unsaid becomes as relevant as the spoken.
These inner conversations and moments can occur any time or place. The challenge lies in translating the moment, the light, colour to the canvas. The Japanese culture is just one place of particular interest to me. I want to open my mind to understand more about this land- its art, calligraphy and people.