CH Painting
Paintings as landscapes of emotional experience
From an existential and philosophical perspective, I am fascinated with the notion that I was in a particular place, at a particular time with a particular light, and experienced something significant in that positioning. A positioning that is emotionally or relationally charged; people together, a powerful landscape or the intimate, micro-noticing of movement, sound and light.
I am also intrigued with how we as people perceive and experience the world. What is it that we do or do not notice and why? How can I as an artist take a noticing and reinterpret it into something that is visually unique, yet still grounded in my initial perception or feeling?
I consider my art practice as a process of inquiry that moves from experiment to experiment, where the principle question that drives that inquiry is: How can I express the essence of a lived moment by using the lyricism of colour, light and surface materiality in relation to a strong, structural composition? The result that emerges can be described as: Paintings as landscapes of emotional experience.
Exploring the patterns of an experience
In order to reach beyond my own habitual compositional and gestural traits, I challenge myself by imposing an enabling constraint that takes its departure point in the geometries that emerge from a numerical system based on the date, time and location of where an experience occurred.
My process starts with a series of experiments that seek to find the essence of what I noticed, mostly using a computer, original photo material and scanned watercolour fragments. These sketches provide the basis for something I can work on in the physical and material world, or be further developed as digital images for print.
Regardless of the tools I choose to use, be they digital or material, my process entails a sensitive, bodily practice that sets up a fine-tuned resonance between my making, the materials I use and my departure point. In all, I strive to relate my practice to the rhythm, note and tone of my original impression.
A deep, meditative practice that seeks to engender images that reflect my being in the world.