Fractalish #1

This is one of a series of paintings balancing intention with chaos. The painting was created out doors in the rain so the water from nature interacts with the application of the paint.

The one operational rule to my style is that one cannot touch the canvas or apply paint directly. I use syringes, leaf blowers, sticks and also flick the paint or drip the paint (similar to the process used by Pollock)

I hope the viewer will perceive movement and depth that eschews any real visual centre. The application of the paint becomes a very physical gesture with a certain level of intention but relies a great deal on chance. With this approach, there is an attempt to create many of the patterns of nature, the ones we may see in a nebulae, in the shape of water flowing, in the effects of wind.

This work uses very sombre, neutral colours. It does come with a simple frame that can be easily removed if required.

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I am a music composer and artist based in Olinda, Australia. While my main focus has been largely centred around music, I have returned to painting in the last 15 years. What started out as an exploration into work strongly influenced by Pollock, has recently broadened into a style I feel is more my own. Essentially I avoid applying paint directly to the canvas. I use the drip method but also syringes, squirt bottles and even leaf blowers. This is very much an attempt to find a balance between chance, chaos and intention. It creates an intuitive journey where one is looking for the happy accident. Some of this philosophy harks back to the music of John Cage and the ambient work of Brian Eno. As soon as I apply a brush to the canvas or paint a shape, the process becomes conscious and I lose that sense of the sub-conscious intention so at this point, this is the constant parameter that exists in my work. There is often no focal point in the work. The eye can't rest on one point. I am interested in trying to replicate the patterns we see in nature, the ones that repeat on every scale from a nebulae in space to oil in a small puddle by the road to the sprawling branches in an autumnal tree. In terms of form it seems minimal but full of frenetic movement at the same time. A lot of my music creates metamorphic aural landscapes that draw the listener into a space of contemplation and movement and I would like to achieve this with my painting and photography.