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Spirit Matter

Nirox Foundation, Cradle of Humankind
Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg
November 2022 - January 2023
 
The exhibitions, spanning The Nirox Foundation and Gallery MOMO, present a range of paintings made in my Edinburgh studio and during my residency at NIROX, July & August 2022.  With the Spirit Matter series, I am painting in reverse. The canvas is dyed with a dark black or indigo. I then begin bleaching parts of the surface to reveal lighter areas. The process happens slowly, in many layers, as I attempt to encourage an ethereal light into the artwork. The result is hopefully very open and suggestive of a numinous experience. The paintings are not depictions of Spirit, how can one paint the invisible? Rather, they are an evocation, an echo, a vapour. They point towards a presence you catch out of the corner of your eye, just before it slips away.

A Mountain is Harder to Climb than you Think

In November 2021, I undertook my most arduous challenge to date. I carried three stone sculptures, their plinths, three paintings and a mobile studio, on his back up to the remote ‘Bone Caves’ in the far north of Scotland. I set up a studio and completed the paintings in the cave, camping overnight. I was joined by a small film crew and my two sons. The first iteration of the exhibition took place in the cave, the morning after his ascent. 
 
This exhibition presents the completed artworks, accompanied by the film documenting his experience. Hosted by LTD Ink Corporation and presented by The Rafiki Gallery. April, 2022.