The Art Magazine June 2020 | Page 7

obsession can have a self-destructive impact on you. For me, as a man, it reflected contemporary society about how we live in an image based culture, that has reduced masculinity to a mere accessory. Where you can increase your manliness by buying into that market. The painting made me realize that it's possible to recreate yourself by changing your ideals and questioning logic. I have never seen this painting in real life but it's on my to do list, so hopefully I will get a chance to visit the Tate in London soon and see the painting in person.

Many of your works carry an autobiographical message. Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.

Rather than attempting to portray my experiences, as a faithful copy, I prefer to focus on a strain of thought and try to elaborate on that. So instead of being a reflection on how it made me feel, I try to extenuate it's qualities like colour, focus etc., and bring these qualities to the attention of the viewer and see how that makes them react. It's just like a Japanese Haiku. Traditionally a Haiku, contains 3 parts, two images, and a concluding line that juxtapose them together. I take my experiences and relate them to subject matter. I then use varies techniques and logic to portray this as an image and eventually the concluding meaning becomes apparent. The teachings of Wabi-Sabi, mention that nothing lasts, nothing is finished and nothing is perfect. Thus, I focus on subject matter which is fleeting and temporal, like bubbles, fire or even a droplet of water. I then look at the logic behind the subject matter, for example bubbles remind me of being a child and the innocence of looking at something fresh and new. The rainbow of colour catches your eye as it reflects a mirror of the world around you. William Blake, the artist and poet, talks about a similar aesthetic in his poem, 'the Auguries of Innocence'. A wild flower, can contain a heaven because the beauty of a flower is a piece of heaven, and it can make you imagine or visualise a better and more beautiful world. A grain of sand is a world in miniature. It's a piece of the world, small and insignificant. The poem contrasts the difference between a small grain of sand and a wild flower, with infinity and eternity, putting perspective on how small we are in the universe and how the world we live-in contains so much beauty and inspiration. The painting of the bubbles, is a way for me to remember the innocent mind set, I had as a child. I would look at the world with fresh eyes, everything being so new and exciting. I originally didn't know whether this message was apparent to the viewer, but the first place I exhibited the work, seemed to understand the meaning straight away. One day in summer, children were blowing bubbles down the street, whilst customer's were sitting in the cafe chatting. According to the owner, it gave them a feeling of contentment. It allows us to appreciate what we have and how little and unimportant our problems are, in the vast scheme of the universe. The contentment of deriving pleasure from simplicity and thinking like a child, without a care in the world.

When I came back from Japan and wanted to show the things I'd seen but also reflect the narrative of what I'd experienced. I've always admired the acute detail that goes into hyper realistic paintings, the time it takes to really explore every detail of your subject matter. I decided to paint these images with photorealism , because they would become synonymous with the real thing and allow the viewer to have memories and experiences relating to the subject matter. The artistic representation is faithful, as it reflects the subject matter in a photorealistic way, but it still has an underlining message for the viewer. I chose to make the paintings photorealistic as it would allow the viewer to have a stronger connection with the subject matter. If I painted the images with a different style, it would become a reflection of my own interpretation rather than relating to the viewer. When painting the Tealights picture, I noticed that a moth landing on the painting thinking that the candles were real. If the painting was convincing enough for a moth in the darkness, then it must be realistic enough for the viewer.

What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?

For me, technique is a very transparent attribute that can tell you a lot about the artist. The brushstrokes can reflect the persons mood, it reflects emotion, decision making and can show parts of someone's personality. The same thing goes for colour, if an artist is working on an abstract painting, then their choice of colour can tell you a lot about how they're feeling. Mixing ideas that incorporate style and narrative is a great way to tell the viewer a more elaborate story. Composition takes the viewers eyes on a journey. It's just like caligraphy, it shows the actions taken by the artist to reach their desired goal. When working on a photorealistic painting, I needed to take into consideration the effects that light has on the human eye. If you go from a dark room to sunlight, your eyes have to adjust. Same with items in your peripheral vision, they become blurred and distorted. With colour, you need to balance everything to the correct degree. If you make something brighter then it appears in real life then the human eye will notice and it will stand out as being out of place. You need to confuse the human eye into thinking that the image is real, rather than a representation of real life. When painting photorealistic subject matter, you have less freedom to articulate. You must keep to the set structure and colour, any deviation from this will make it look less realistic.