In conversation with Simon McAuley, Glasgow, 2024

Biology, geography, cartography, psychology. Like weather coming in from the left-hand edge. Plant life growing from the North. A metabolic process implied throughout. Large gestural brush strokes as vascular marks, perhaps the result of fluctuations in these systems.

An exchange happens between each layer. One corresponds with another in a multisystem array.

Decorative elements pulse across this array. In a liminal space…. Between surface and depth. Such as with mark, colour, line, viscosity. Some of which reference and constitute the history of painting while actively referencing a contemporary body.

Visceral pressure is palpable. Felt within the body of the viewer. The way a changing weather front feels. Sometimes the paint falls or is subject to a kind of gravity pulling it back to the decorative or cartographic membrane, in order that other systems proceed. At times it is more familiar as expressive abstraction.

As a result, space has been made for the viewer. An empathetic space for dwelling in, then reflecting and processing. Towards another viewer position or level of psyche.

The history of painting intimates closely with the observer even if it sits under the surface. Systematically, via process and layer building.

Some of these layers have a tender skin. In a liminal space the body and its functions are referenced hand in hand with paint. Historical corpuscles active in liminal spaces. Painting still has relevance. It can still reflect and engage the gaze of the viewer or participant.

In some ways this body of work is a mining of the psyche via the body. Canvas and marks as tender maps. The respiration of weathered conceptual bio strategies.