On texture. Yellow, White and Black painting. December 2013. Acrylics on canvas 100 cm x 130 cm

Texture is an interesting carrier of narrative when compared with the properties of colour and composition.  If colour is emotion, and composition the distribution of said emotion, texture speaks of the manner in which it all came together. I wanted the the work to address a tension between order and erosion, or tension between the idea and the meagre means of its execution.

A Disneyland in the former East Germany. Untitled (Dresden) December 2013 Acrylics on canvas, 60 cm x 60 cm

Flat colour fields often denote strong meaning. I look at road signs, flags and logos for companies or organisations. Clarity and strength of conviction is put forward by someone for the world to take heed of. However, blind conviction often fails, I find. In the way we write it, "blind conviction" we also find the clue to why it might not have the necessary properties to survive in the long run. It is, indeed, blind.  I find desaturated, tarnished and broken signage or flags particularly arresting. Considering that all is vanity anyway as the olden philosophers pointed out aeons ago, I find I have a certain sympathy for the collapsed imperatives of these utilitarian works. Especially when that which has been tarnished once had positive, strong or powerfully authoritarian leanings. We deride the past at our peril, however, and sometimes the old "truths" can tell us more of our present than we might want to admit. Combatting horizontals and verticals can be used to illustrate this tension between now and then, truth and defunct truths. Had Erich Honecker run a Disneyland in the former DDR we would now view it as a fossil, a crashed illusion, and the feeble colours of the old site would indicate to us the weakness of the whole venture. Such is our instinctive response to fading colours. Such is our view of the defeated past. As I worked this canvas, the name "Dresden" kept popping up in my mind when I thought of the nature of how I painted. Dresden was almost eradicated through bombing raids during WWII, and as a city on the losing side, I found the name suited my thoughts on the battle we all take part in, the battle between intent and time.

Variation on a theme. Yellow on blue, Nov 2013 Mixed media on canvas, 39.5 cm x 39.5 cm

When Malevich painted his Black Square in 1915, it caused quite a stir. Malevich is hailed by many as one of the forerunners of modernism and his work still turns up in today's discussion about what painting can be "about". The simplicity of the square, the circle and the cross he painted can easily be revisited by anyone. I fancied having a go myself, initially as a starting point to something else. I did want to start off where he had arrived, namely with the good old square. First I chose a totally different colour scheme, but worked over it. Then the new combination also got painted over, this time by the highly contrasting blue and yellow. I still viewed it as the beginning of a more complex painting, but soon I changed my mind. Returning to the canvas one day, I decided to give the homage its due respect. Instead of embellishing the motif, I just worked up the colours to be more solid, flat and simple. Staying with the original idea, the square, has if not helped me create something original, at least helped me appreciate The Black Square with fresh eyes. As an exercise, I can recommend this particular "motif" to everyone. Choose new colours, or not. Fret not over originality, just enjoy the visit to 1915.   

Bands, lines and stripes. Greys, Nov 2013. Mixed media on canvas, 49.5 cm x 49.5 cm

Luminosity and intensity is often associated with bright colours. I sometimes work towards a muted intensity, where quiet hues or murky combinations does all the running. Buff white is a new discovery for me and one that has appeared more and more in recent work. An impure character, buff white has a tremendous ability to corrupt most other colours it comes in contact with. Having toiled with a horrendous commission using paint brushes, this work, "Greys" burst forth with unusual rapidity. Scrapers were used to push the paint around and a tiny amount of sand-fragments still lodged on the surface from an earlier work made for a worn impression. Again bands, or stripes or even lines, call them what you want, carries the anonymous composition.

Progression. Untitled, Nov 2013 Acrylics on canvas, 49.5 cm x 49.5 cm

Progressions interest me. Progressions in time, space and shape. Visual progressions are something I've worked with a lot recently. The death of old imagery, the emergence of new expressions upon the memories of that which has gone before. Life itself often provides smooth transitions from one state to another, not unlike a gradual fading as of a colour into a new one. Occasionally a jolt irreversibly throws us from one state into another. These properties tied in to time itself permeates everything, and makes for an intriguing topic for a painting.  It all continues, inexorably advancing.

Passion and self control. Red times four, October 2013. Acrylics on board, 59.5 cm x 65.5 cm

This survey of red hues started out as a rather flamboyant patchwork of many colour fields. The sheer multitude of the mix didn't work, and something had to be done. Like a chairman of a rambunctious meeting I asked for silence and politely requested the colours to take turns in saying what was on their mind. Red stepped forward first. As it is a highly volatile colour it was important that a calm and balanced delivery could be presented.

To use the past. Orange painting, October 2013. Acrylics on canvas, 29.5 cm x 39.5 cm

Having many paintings on the go at once has been interesting recently. To work on one canvas, put it down and go on to a different one can lead to new considerations. Some happy accidents are left as the final result whereas some "finished" canvases meets a total overhaul in the fresh light of a new day. This painting met such a fate. A layered composition failed to stand up to scrutiny and needed to been given new life. The buried layers shows through on the surface, however. This leaves a crucial link to the past, without which the painting would lose its individuality. The painting would become "about" something totally different.