Gallery 2

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Spikes

At the very heart of my work and my inspiration is the deception of simplicity and how you can lead the viewer to discover and appreciate this for themselves.

Making my home in the Middle East I am surrounded by the classic designs familiar to this region of precise connecting patterns that dominate the walls and windows of buildings here.  To me they have beautiful and concise order and are very calming in their precision and organic nature. For my work and for me as an artist, this order is a starting point.

I take this order, shake it up and turn it on its head to create a piece that is at once challenging and intriguing. The Spike series is also textural. You want to touch it, feel it, press the Spikes and see what they do.

This explains my inspiration and process. I am compulsively drawn to the idea that something so very simple can actually be incredibly complex. This was the genesis of my Spike series, this idea of the deception of simplicity – that a simple shape or design can take the viewer on a journey through colour, texture and pattern that requires them to change their viewpoint sometimes several times.

The Spikes have sculptural elements, they curve off the canvas and that curve mirrors the swirls and circles of colour they form. That’s what appeals to me about them.

There is a natural imperfection in length and size of each Spike and they change the intensity of colour and movement depending on what angle you look at them from.

They change the very form and nature of the piece according to the viewer’s perspective.

They are essentially simple patterns within simple patterns but it is how they intertwine and create a rhythm that causes you to follow that line, only to discover that it changes direction that keeps you following and changing perspective constantly.

You, as the viewer, are caught off guard when you find a new angle, a new way to look at the work.