otro venera encaustic and mixed media painting
In this series of thirty works, the creative process and experience is about the mastering of variables and the exploitation of materials and their individual qualities. The underlying theme and content of the work is driven by surface production, however, aesthetic control is maintained in a sort of interplay between the serendipitous and the intentional. Works such as The Bastion & Tall Poppies are unified by the choice of materials; mixed media and wax finally connected by the ongoing process of surface destruction and reconstruction.
Personally, the physical act of making these artworks is a process of practical discovery. The revealed surface is paramount. Layers are built over layers and then abraded via heating, chiselling, grinding and scraping to reveal what lies below. It is through the unearthing of these layers that the content slowly presents itsel.
My continued focus is to produce works that highlight a rich monochromatic finish ultimately bound by materials, texture and content that result in a unified and assertive product.
Otro Venera explores the relationship between the artist and the artwork it hopes to retains the initial immediacy of mark while combining it with the revelation of what lays beneath.
The juxtaposition of subtle and concentrated lines and motifs against a harshly rendered surface is all important as are sub-conscious thoughts against the conscious act of placement and balance.
