The paintings progress from a chaotic beginning towards a meticulous, systemic order.
First, the ground is applied liberally, embracing the intrinsic behaviour of large volumes of paint, which shift as they dry to a gestural veneer. This process hovers between intention and chance as the surface inevitably hosts accidents. Surveying the painted canvas with forensic attention discloses regularities and trends in the paint, although initially it seems disordered. These uniformities are organized and systematically categorised, then demarcated, linking similarities and plotting the topography of the surface in isotropic detail.
Rules govern the decision-making. Protocol is devised upfront and applied objectively to all the prescribed incidences. However, there is slippage between legislation and interpretation, and so the systems and the imagery spiral in complexity.
These paintings reflect how humans organise socially and politically. Clustering occurs quite naturally in the works, contemplating the topographical impetus behind settlements and methods of communication within and between groups. The use of rules reflect the dilemmas of regulation and the limits of implementation of the law. Complex systems proliferate throughout our socio-political and economic structures: these paintings contemplate details of policy and variants in political and legalistic frameworks. Essentially, the core consideration in these works is the societal balance between regulation and individual freedom as represented by supervision of intuition.
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