2018

My artistic practice is an exploration of the dichotomy of private and public, and offers a site where the desire for intimacy, the need for space protected from commodification and surveillance, is contemplated. To what extent can we be protected and still participate fully in public life?

 My work explores the desire to share our experience of the inner sanctum as universal and the invariable politicization that results when these impressions are physically manifest as images, as art.

 The patterns used are inspired by antique patterns of the 19th century Victorian tradition that itself draw heavily on Indian art and design and their inclusion is meant to both pay homage to the beauty of craft traditions of engraving, silversmithing and fibre arts, practiced by my family for generations, and to articulate and acknowledge their place in history.

 The use of materials is a conscientious commentary of this history; oil paint, jute, sisal and steel are mixed to signify our fraught and enduring legacies of colonization; the exploitation of labour and natural resources through force.

 Ideas around privacy, and my use of pattern were also inspired by my 10-year sojourn in the Middle East. Pattern, as dictated by Islamic religion and tradition, is evidenced in most cultural production, and privacy is an essential part of the culture.

 The screens are like the Mashrabiyya, one of the purposes of which is discretion.  Here, the viewer behind the screen, is both the oppressed, and the oppressor.

 This project explores how the desire for private space is contradicted by the need for freedom: of speech, of expression, of movement. It investigates the need for privacy as a paradox of strength and hazard, that which simultaneously fortifies and restricts.

 The poignancy of this conflict is manifest as layers interacting, obscuring and clarifying in chorus.

2016

My paintings start with sketches and photographs of a series of vertebrae I have collected from beaches around the world and here the bones are figurative, and create scenes that focus on one moment or give a trenchant impression.

The bones are transformed and abstracted into new forms reminiscent of various biomorphic figures and the work, in part, explores the relationship of form, shadow and ground, not to synthesize the terms in opposition, but to mark their eternal interconnectedness.

All patterns included were inspired from antique patterns of the 19th  century Victorian tradition that itself drew heavily on Indian art and design and their inclusion is meant to, in part, pay homage to the craft traditions of engraving, sculpture and fiber arts, practiced by my family for generations.

Using pattern in this context was also inspired by my 10-year sojourn in the Middle East, where decorative pattern, as dictated by religion and tradition, is evidenced in most cultural production.

High intensity colour and strong graphic content are important to my work, and are a reflection of my continued relationship to popular culture, including animation and graffiti art.

Upsetting pictorial norms, I have tilted the horizontal surfaces up towards the picture plane, so that depth is both asserted and denied.

Large areas of colour and the use of surface pattern also help to flatten the image, and promotes the disruption of conventional subject dominated composition, as these elements vie for visual dominance.

Divisions of fine art, craft and popular culture are blurred in my work, where the high intensity colours and outlining techniques used in graffiti art and animation are intertwined with references to traditions from western painting, including the Baroque, Cubism and Expressionism.

The inclusion of the second decorative canvas reminds us of a frame, or doorway or other domestic object and as the viewer enters the intimacy of the vignettes it is as a process of turning inward, and refers to the act of looking at art, of visual pause, of contemplation.

My painting thus explores the dialogue between the subject (the figurative forms intertwined with pattern) and the means of expression (the language of painting) and the resulting oscillation is meant to be both empirical and intellectual.

2016 vf

Chacune de mes œuvres s’amorce à partir d’esquisses et de photographies d’une collection de vertèbres trouvées sur des plages du monde entier. Les os sont représentés de façon figurative, créant des scènes qui s’articulent autour d’un moment précis ou produisent une vive impression.

Transformés et exprimés en une forme abstraite, les os revêtent de nouveaux traits évoquant des figures biomorphiques. Les œuvres révèlent entre autres la relation entre les formes, les ombres et le sol, non pas pour opposer ces concepts, mais bien pour souligner leur éternelle symbiose.

Les motifs s’inspirent tous de dessins anciens de l’époque victorienne, au 19e siècle, qui eux-mêmes puisent fortement dans l’art et l’esthétique de l’Inde. Leur inclusion vise en partie à rendre hommage aux traditions artisanales qui se perpétuent dans ma famille depuis des générations, comme la gravure, la sculpture et l’art textile.

L’emploi de motifs dans ce contexte est aussi guidé par mon séjour de 10 ans au Moyen-Orient, où des motifs décoratifs ornent la plupart des œuvres culturelles, comme le veulent les traditions et la religion.

Les couleurs très brillantes et un contenu graphique percutant sont des éléments centraux de mes réalisations. Ils reflètent ma relation étroite à la culture populaire, notamment l’animation et le graffiti.

Bousculant les conventions en la matière, j’ai incliné les surfaces horizontales vers le plan pictorial. Ainsi, la profondeur est à la fois affirmée et rejetée.

Par ailleurs, les grands pans de couleur et les motifs de surface contribuent à l’aplanissement de l’image. Puisqu’ils se disputent la dominance visuelle, ces éléments chambardent de surcroît l’idée des compositions habituelles, souvent dominées par un seul sujet.

Les frontières entre les beaux-arts, l’artisanat et la culture populaire se brouillent au sein de mes œuvres. Aux couleurs éclatantes et techniques de surcontour empruntées au graffiti et à l’animation viennent se mêler des références aux grands mouvements de la peinture occidentale, dont le baroque, le cubisme et l’expressionnisme.

La présence de la seconde toile décorative rappelle un cadre, une embrasure de porte ou un autre objet domestique. Quand le témoin se plonge dans l’intimité des vignettes, il subit un processus d’intériorisation par ce prélude qui se veut à la fois une observation de l’œuvre, une pause visuelle et un moment de contemplation.

Bref, mes œuvres explorent le dialogue qui unit le sujet (les formes figuratives entrelacées de motifs) et les moyens d’expression (le langage de la peinture), entraînant une oscillation à vocation empirique et intellectuelle.