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.