Mama Did You See? (Part of the Natatorium Series) Painting

My work could be described as paintings of memories and of feelings, that have been re-imagined. Have you ever watched someone who is oblivious to your gaze, yet you see them being conscious of being seen? With social media, people put out images of themselves without any idea who will see them, I’m finding people are making intimate connections with people they know very little about… I find this innocence and desire to be seen and recognized by the virtual friend as very perplexing. Ironically I am doing the same as I write this artist statement. Being an artist I guess that’s what we do when we make art. I have a fascination with old photographs. A photograph has a nostalgia about the fleeting moment that has passed. These after-images transform our memories and re-present that moment in time when the viewer encounters that object. Paintings are also material objects that often linger in our memories long after we had seen them. An encounter with an artwork becomes entangled and intertwined with the viewer's memory, the viewer brings their own experiences and their inventory of memories shift because of it. The themes in which I engage in have less to do with the memory of that scene, but more to with sensation I associate with it. I started painting and making objects from when I can remember. I am best known for my large bronze public sculptures in South Africa where I worked after obtaining a Masters degree in Fine Art at Rhodes University, I focused solely on painting when I moved to Australia in 2010. I now spend much of my time in the south of Spain where I have a studio. My paintings are represented in Australia, Spain, Ireland and South Africa. My recent works have been painted on cotton paper, which I enjoy working with as the paper absorbs and reacts to paint, charcoal, pastel and inks differently and creates diverse textures. My figurative work at times seems to emerge from an abstract background. I focus on solitary people, usually women, who have been photographed surreptitiously. My paintings swing from scenes that are fresh and carefree to sensual, moody ones marked with stains that feel like they were rescued from a hazy past. Like a photograph, I think a painting will always be touched by the original experience and the viewer will create an entangled web of time to the painting through their own experiences.