Blue, a colour that surrounds our being each and every day; she lurks within the distance with her eyes constantly peeled. We all share her presence, she reminds us of the places where we are not and places we will never be able to reach. Blue becomes a seductive essence that fills the gap between distance and desire. So how can we ever obtain blue if her beauty can never be possessed?
Within my practice, I choose to look back at Blue, to stare at her in the ethereal Blue portrait. I aim to capture the activity of Blue through my poetic writings and paintings. How she grasps my attention and lures me into a void of Blue paint; it is within this void that I explore a Blue portrait. This is not a self-reflection of my own being but more of an exploration of an ‘other’ being. It is within this process that I feel I have a small ounce of Blue in my possession.
The Blue in which I write about and hold within my possession seems to recall female qualities. I am still exploring this area but when I write, the word ‘she’ always becomes juxtaposed with the essence of Blue’s features. It is this ‘she’ which I am currently trying to resonate through paintings and the extension of my paintings into installation work and speech. There are moments within my practice where I seem to become part of the paintings, almost as if the act of painting ‘she’ is a painting within itself. Painting Blue becomes an activated painting, a painting that wishes to communicate more than what can be held within a canvas. It almost seems that a painting just being a painting is not enough.
I want my work to be in contact with the viewer; almost in a relatable manner. Blue is something we all share, it is the human common ground. But ‘she’ is so large and unattainable, we cannot physically hold her and we can only touch small molecules of her skin. It almost creates the desire to venture within her and explore the being of Blue. I believe Blue seduce us into the desire of her being.
My paintings aim to remind my viewer of this, I want to swallow my viewer in Blue, to be overwhelmed by her delicate and beautiful existence. To be part of Blue and remind us that not only is Blue alive but we are also in harmony with her being.