Paint Like You Mean It

 Double Decker, 2014, acrylic and oil on linen, 80 x 70 cm

My painting Double Decker has been selected for the competition Paint Like You Mean It at Interview Room 11 in Edinburgh. The painting will also feature in the PLYMI catalogue.

Exhibition Dates: 31^st May – 14^th June

Private View: Friday 30^th May, 6-8pm

“Artists are invited to submit one work that they deem to be “painting”.  This could be two or three dimensional work but must relate to the practice or medium of painting in some way.  Work selected will demonstrate the versatility of paint, and show how contemporary artists are redefining the nature of the medium whilst still being rooted in the traditions and histories of painting.”

Shortlisted Artists

Adam Kelly l Alice Walter l Angela Smith l Beau Rouse l Brian Cheeswright l Christy Yates l Cyrus Shroff l Daniel John l David McDiarmid l Edward Hill l Eilish McCann l Elizabeth Lyne l Enzo Marra l Gonzalo l Reyes Araos l Graham Chorlton l Hannah Weatherhead l Henry Finney l Kate Livingstone l Liam Walker l Linn Sundqvist l Louisa Chambers l Marianne Morild l Matthew Pang l Michael Branthwaite l Mijung Koh l Molly Butt l Nishiki Tayui l Playpaint l Roy Immanuel l Russell Leng l Sally Taylor l Sooim Jeong

Nets

Triangular Pentagon, 2014, gouache on paper, 18 x 25 cm

Mutant, 2014, gouache on paper, 25 x 18 cm

Demi-Horizontal, 2014, gouache on paper, 18 x 16 cm

Net I, 2014, gouache on paper, 18 x 25 cm

Net II, 2014, gouache on paper, 18 x 25 cm

Truncated Octahedron, 2014, gouache on paper, 19 x 25 cm

Kite Shape, 2014, gouache on paper, 25 x 19 cm

Entrance, 2014, gouache on paper, 25 x 18 cm

Pentagonal Prism, 2014, gouache on paper, 25 x 18 cm

Wall, 2014, gouache on paper, 25 x 18 cm

I have recently made a new series of small paintings on paper working in gouache. This is the first time I have used the medium and have enjoyed the translucent, free flowing, chalky quality and the jewel-like colours that it is able to achieve. This series of work focuses on nets that when assembled make a three dimensional geometric form. However, my nets, purposely would never fit together, due to the wonky lines creating an anthropomorphic character to the paintings. 

The nets that I have been working from derive from Order in Space by Keith Critchlow. This design source book features patterns, geometric forms and the nets that make up these solids.

In the preface he philosophically states:

“Yet we are taught so soon to project our minds on to the ‘flat’ and even trained to think of geometry at school as starting from the flat and projecting up into the solid. The truth is, we are finite and we exist in a finite universe. We educe the infinite in the same way: we start in the round and can project to the flat-infinite plane, which according to modern theory is also to be conceived as returning on itself, not continuously ‘away’ to infinity.”

The comment is somewhat contradictory in that we are studying these geometric solids in the two-dimension. On a practical level I am trying to achieve a similar outcome when interpreting a three dimensional form on a two dimensional surface which often proposes itself as a challenge.

Stewarts Law RCA Secret

Stewarts Law RCA Secret is an exhibition and sale of original postcard-sized artworks, by internationally acclaimed artists plus up-and coming graduates from the Royal College of Art. It's a chance to get your hands on original works of art for a tiny price, whilst supporting bursaries for RCA art students at a formative time in their careers.

Here are my three donated postcards for the exhibition and sale.

Sit, 2014, gouache on card, 10 x 15 cm

Criss-cross, 2014, gouache on card, 10 x 15 cm

Carnival, 2014, gouache on card, 10 x 15 cm