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“If you don’t want
anybody to know anything about you – don’t write a song!”
I can’t remember
where I heard this quote, but it serves well to explain how
one’s personality is revealed through a song, or in my case, a
painting.
I’m naturally a
shy person and find it difficult to articulate my thoughts
verbally. When I’m put on the spot and asked to explain my work,
I usually end up a gibbering wreck, cursing myself later for my
lack of verbal dexterity. My true personality reveals itself
through my paintings.
Many of my
paintings are about good and evil – innocence and malevolence.
When I was a child I remember believing what a wonderful and
happy place the world was. I loved to learn about other people
in other countries and wanted to visit them all. Of course, I
now realise things aren’t quite as I once imagined, and the once
distant places where I so wanted to be are not so far away; they
are actually on my doorstep. The people I wanted to meet are
locked in a bitter hatred of each other, divided by race or
religion. The world is a place where the innocent pay the
heaviest price. It affects me deeply. It’s like living in the
garden of Good and Evil. I can’t ignore it, so I depict it in
the form of these innocent pictures. I leave it to the
individual to look at my paintings and choose what they would
like to see, innocence or malevolence – the ‘good’ or the
‘evil’!
Above all else I
am, and always will be, an eternal optimist. Optimism is one of
the greatest gifts we possess. When I think about it, I think of
the song ‘Fields of Gold’ by Sting – the lyrics sum it up!
These two opposing
juxtapositions ultimately explain many of my paintings. Look at
the ones which have malevolent titles – mainly the evil cats. To
me they are representations of evil. However, at first glance,
the impression they exude is optimism. The wide-eyed cats and
dogs always look petrified and are representations of the
innocent. You can choose to see these paintings any way you
like. See love and happiness or death and the Devil, it doesn’t
matter so long as you see something and connect with it.
This is where I
draw a connection between these paintings and my abstract
paintings. I would like you to see whatever you see! You get the
most from a painting if it connects with you. When you look at
an abstract painting, you can see nothing, or you can see it all
– it’s either for you, or it isn’t! For me, this simple
philosophy sums up what is art and what is not – you either like
it or you don’t! My paintings are from my soul and I hope,
honest! |
