ARTIST STATEMENT

My paintings, deeply rooted in performance, explore the potential of the printed image through theatrical enactment and playful investigation. I see painting as both a physical and cerebral pursuit: a channel for philosophical inquiry that questions how we represent reality and navigate the tension between abstraction and figuration.

I draw on diverse painterly traditions: from Western court painting and Japanese Edo-period prints to Surrealism and the utopian aspirations of the avant-garde. I constantly play with art historical tropes of illusion versus flatness, mediating between objective and subjective approaches in an interplay that swings with regular rhythm. I often describe the genre of my work as metaphysical pop. Although it offers a pop entry point, it rapidly drifts into metaphysical musing; within shifting terrains, isolated figures and contours can be seen to inhabit charged spaces.  

While the overall arc of my work centres on an ongoing inquiry into the act of painting itself, subjects I often return to include performers, geishas, reimagining art historical paintings and taming the animal within. Though the subjects differ, the underlying threads collectively explore painting as a language with a history, loaded with conventions and power structures, and a legacy that has often marginalised voices. 

Responding to art history's male-dominated gaze, my goal is to show the world from a feminine perspective, depicting female interiority, relationships, or the world through a woman's eyes.  My Geisha series, for example, shifts this gaze, effectively turning these objects into active subjects with their own inner life, agency, and perspective. In works featuring mirrors, such as 'Mirrored Persona', the Geisha quietly glimpses herself while simultaneously observing her audience. All is illusion, as the mirror subtly captures the gaze of the artist who made it.

My work is guided by one essential question: how to mediate between visual art, traditionally seen as enduring and permanent, and performance, which is essentially ephemeral and time-based.

To create my work, I use photographic images culled from social media, catalogues, or magazines as a springboard to explore the subconscious and dream logic. My work extends into performance, where time is a vital component. The physical act of painting and the temporal unfolding of the work prioritise process over product. The work conveys an awareness of its own making over time, perhaps even inviting a performative viewing. 

Working primarily on heavy paper, largely on the floor, each painting is typically completed within half an hour to two hours. Vibrant, linear brushstrokes interplay with broad sweeps of bright or evocative colour. I insist on raw sensation, touch, and movement over explicit narrative or detailed representation.

I strive for an expansive understanding of what painting can be, continually exploring contemporary practice through dialogue with historical precedents. The viewer is invited to explore the interdisciplinary crossroads between performance art and picture making, to consider the making of the art as part of its meaning and to view the work as the enduring trace of a performative act.