“My latest body of work focuses on the period of childhood, a main theme in my practice, yet in this case the phase of development, childhood, becomes a meeting space; a sphere within which I get to know Him better, come closer to Him and relate His experiences with that of mine, perhaps imagining a potential encounter, a sort of togetherness that takes place within the paintings themselves.
The settings of the paintings, vivid and stark yet slightly identifiable, derive from archival photographic material that He lent me, as a way of sharing these past moments with me.
These places are spaces which are occupied by a solitary figure of unidentifiable nature. A character who is neither Him nor myself, but rather a fusion of both, a hybrid imaginary figure of youth who is staring outwards awkwardly sitting or standing. These figures, made by a multitude of oil paint and water colour washes, portray a child yet always attaining characteristics of maturity evoking a paradoxical essence as they become a homage to the development and progresses that he has achieved until today – now being an independent man who managed to overcome, to heal and to exit.
This exit becomes the basis of my painting ‘A window to a new place’ as the young figure, dressed in a winter yellow coat seems to have just escaped an enclosed space, a trap, that being the highly tilled building on the background with the railings covering on the window opening. This painting is a celebration of this exit, as well as the one titled ‘Almost out there’, which depicts a formally dressed child that has just crossed all this valley covered with grass and has left behind the council estate buildings, those being a reference to soviet Moscow. The figures stand proudly and intact, embracing the journey yet looking forward to a new word, the future.
As a continuation to this celebration of exit, my painting ‘Agatha’s Tenderness’ which depicts a female figure holding a massive cat becomes for me a ‘bridge’, a connecting ground based on which to communicate to my father’s family the experience I am having with Him. The painting expands vertically, elongating both figures that portray my grandmother Agatha strictly standing before her shadow, awkwardly holding my dad’s cat. This is a cold embrace, a hug that she is forced to perform as she never actually wanted this pet, it was all for her son. It is this coldness and awkwardness in the posture and the embrace that I wish to explore in this work, something which I perceive as a linking device between his family and that of mine.
Encounters, solitary poses, hugging figures, dancing figures and childhood portraits create a whirlpool of uncanny presence, of figures that are simultaneously stark and bold yet are not comfortable within their presence, perhaps in a state of transition, or potency, or even change.”
All images and text courtesy of the artist