camouflage series | painting | large drawings | soldier series | sculpture | mixed media
| As a result of the prominence of drawing in recent years my painting has moved from being jewel-like rich in colour to exercises of restriction in the use of colour, while gaining in a wealth of expression, regarding brush strokes. The figure is an excuse, and the starting point is usually an image from the press that kick starts a series that can go on for years, sometimes several at once. Such series intertwine and mix together, creating narratives within bodies of works. I first limited my colour range for the series I called ‘Silas and Wife’. The series started with an image from Time magazine, of a trimmed, conservative and somehow oppressive-looking black Catholic couple. The image also transmitted a great deal of warmth and family values. The original photograph was a perfectly balanced photograph that had a dominating palette of pale yellow. The concept of family portraits emerged. Using the traditional composition of photo family portraits, I extracted from the original image the most important or striking elements: the couple, their blackness, their conservative dress sense, the sense of tradition and the limited colour palette. |