Intention

Having read half a book on the topic of brainular melioration, I am putting several theories into practise. Resultantly, I currently feel more alive and enthusiastic than I have done for some considerable years. This has made for a number of rethoughts on the topic of creative work and its purposes.

On a number of occasions my paintings have been suggested to have an affinity with certain decades of the twentieth century, in Britain. Considering this recently, I put a more specific timeframe on a general period of inspiration - settling on 1920 - 1970. My immediate thought connected with this era is that it almost exactly aligns with the activity of 'Abstract Expressionists', by whom, as a general rule, I have been particularly intrigued over the last ten years. I'm wondering whether my interest in Abstract Expressionism has defined the direction of my work, or if my outlook was preset with an affinity for it. Most likely the answer is a combination of both, though I find it difficult to contemplate a half-chicken/half-egg creature. Unless it's a sort of multi-cellular micro-organism.

The problem I have with Abstract Expressionism, and equally the element I find most compelling, is its American-ness. It is at odds to the 'British' part of the inspiration timeframe mentioned above through a commonly accepted sense of national identity. The sense of 'Britishness' I understand in my paintings is that unease and uncertainty of not knowing whether British culture is defined by its complicated and diverse population, or a notion that everyone in the UK, as defined geographically, should conform to a set of outdated and irrational principles. 'God' save the 'Queen' and 'stiff upper lip' being two examples.

Of course, the paintings don't say this. They're similar to the nonsense that occurs when a text is passed through an online translator into Japanese and then back into English. What happens on the other side is anyone's guess.

Painting is the result of a series of combined untraceable thoughts and actions. The result of painting is an object which causes a series of combined untraceable thoughts and actions which are unlikely to reproduce the original thoughts and actions that resulted in painting. This is not failure, but a cascade of interpretation akin to an atomic bomb. A mushroom cloud of ideas, inspiration and creativity. Even if the creativity is limited to hanging out the washing in a different, perhaps more efficient, way.

So, it is with a renewed sense of purpose that I have put in place an 18 month plan to create at least eight new works and document their construction. The works will be built in pairs and the project is due for completion at the start of January 2010.