Evening Light (1 layer of paint)

A Violent Sky. Crow Point (Vertical Diptych)

The Nature of Place and what is place?

1

Place is 3 dimensional which we're perfectly aware of in the modern age through computer technology and the cinematic experience, that wants to evolve and evolve, non touch 3 dimensional media and virtual reality. We're bombarded by reminders of the glory of our 3 dimensional existence, in every facet of the imagination, whether it is on a screen or images created through sound and modern music. It is an experience that has "length, breadth and depth." The body is defined by what is extended in 3 dimensions," and this technology in its own right is contained within various digital forums.

2

What is death? Death is simply a forcible occurrence that returns us back to our sole completely and in total. Place is a difficult notion but no where near as complex as death. I defend Martin Heidegger on this subject. He explained the importance of Dasein which could also be interpreted as sole or spirit. It is a state by which we can see the colour, the shapes and the forms of our existence, as if through the light of a window or through the walls of a cave, which he discussed in 'The Basic Problems Of Phenomenology' in the section about prehistoric man and his affliction towards painting. The reason for Art is to let people into your sole through image making.

3

It is impossible for place to be a body which renders space itself as formless, because the forms within spaces have volume, a shape and a mass. The Native Americans for instance created a set of laws for these entities, told stories and treated them in a spiritual and mathematical way, to ensure survival and understand the nature of their environment, because this planet is sometimes alien, with all sorts of mysteries. We consider it to be our home that we have claimed as a possession, that belongs to us, not to the spider, the fly and those creatures that we can't see, in the wild or beneath the oceans.

Problems concerned with digital Technology

The rooms that I occupy and exterior places are pictures in my psyche. They include the ones that are various apps and windows on the Internet, in digital format, within the tunnels and compartments of PlayStation 1.2 or the future of 3 Dimensional non touch virtual realities. These are all locations that our psyche has to process, rationalise and make sense of. Seeing beyond them is at times difficult. As painters we are beyond these realms, often witnessing terrible injustices and violence upon the sole, and so we sometimes question the path that we have chosen or doubt the work that we do. We see both extremes, the calm and the violence.

I can only observe and realise fixed circumstances that have to be utilised. Painting is an ancient science created by technology and intended as an antidote, when technologies start to dominate our lives. It brings something very human into the equation, which is painful for those who want quick and easy answers, that require the least physical contact. It penetrates and supersedes these digital realities, preventing the world from escalating too quickly. We start to question whether there is such a thing as a real place, because in digital format it has no volume or body. Technology is dominating the images of perception.

The real Artist is in his or her studio with brushes, tubes and canvas, phone and computer. Once painting has served it's purpose and is in on a screen, it has no use any more, apart from the continuing servitude of a place such as the Internet. This is why, it is imperative to preserve Art and disassociate some of our lives from the digital age. Deep underground a priceless artifact is salvaged because data has been collated on its whereabouts. I suppose our first task is to find the genus or sense of place that modern reality characterises, so that we can build a positive outlook, because it is a revolution. We should be cautious, revolutions can lead to war and inevitably fail.

    

Spirit and Place

The spirit has returned. It is because in writing we focus on words and line that form the letters. Place is a more difficult philosophy than finite and infinitude. Dissemble the word infinitude and it suggests that its place is within a 'finite' whole. The whole is not out or beyond finite but inside and contained. This was Aristotle's dispute and he argued that these false postulations need to be readdressed. Within a line, the one that forms words or even our signature create an expressive, erroneous and perfect form. The spirit is beauty. It is found within the form of who we are.

If we're lost, we are found again within the infinite symmetry of line, that reminds us of the place from which we derived and where we belong. I had some concept of this when I was 15 producing my first serious paintings, when I dedicated my life to the intelligences of tone and contrasted colours. (We can apply white over dark but not dark over white. I could only do the paintings wet. The first way we decide to do things is probably the best way.) Here I am returned to the spirit that does not contain itself within a shape that has absolute limit, where nothing can advance beyond.

An outline that doesn't desist its movement, encourages and gives it the freedom to be what it infinitely is, something that persists and is at times a reflection of sublimity. Its opposite includes all the crossing outs, if you wish to observe a less articulate commentary. Eloquence is equal to rhetoric and so didactic must be its opposite for a debate to be a good work of Art. For any work of Art to be successful there is a big difference between an eloquent line and a not so eloquent line, whether it is a line of speech in a word or a line in drawings makes no difference either, as well as a painting and a line of posture for a dancer.

Visions of Albion. Details from a painting entitled 'The Abion Shore.'