This series of works is inspired by paper studies that came to life during Christmas holidays, when I was away from my studio. I was in such a relaxed stated during this time—hidden away in a country cottage with snow falling outside the windows, a fireplace burning, and Christmas lights all around—a true Christmas bliss.
I put no pressure on making any work whatsoever, and I didn’t create anything for almost two weeks. This meant that I was able to clear my head completely and start afresh with no expectations or agenda. I focused on creating truly intuitive, organic and minimalistic marks. Firstly just with black ink, later I added colours to create more dynamic and interesting compositions. I absolutely loved the results! So much so, that I decided to transfer this work onto large canvases.
There was a lot of trial and error involved and a lot of canvas discarded during the process, as I was trying to replicate the marks created by ink on paper—I loved how the lines go from intense and thick, to thin and light as the tube runs out of ink. In the end I settled on a bamboo and a wooden stick (some works are done with one, some with the other for no particular reason, whatever I felt like working with at the time).
The resulting works are minimalistic and airy, yet so impactful. I get a strong feeling of harmony as I’m driven to explore each stroke and mark. I finished each of these works with a natural wooden float frame, which gives them a sense of completion, an anchor if you will.
I called this series ‘Fragments’, as I feel that each painting is just a small piece of something much bigger—a taste, an idea of what lies within nothingness, or better yet oneness. For this reason I also refrained from giving the individual paintings any specific names that would drive the viewer to search for something familiar from visible reality.
‘No. 9’
80 x 80 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel on raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 8’
120 x 100 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 7’
90 x 70 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 6’
70 x 100 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 5’
100 x 100 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 4’
60 x 50 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 3’
60 x 60 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 2’
70 x 70 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame
‘No. 1’
70 x 70 cm
acrylic, oil stick and oil pastel raw cotton canvas, natural wooden float frame