October 02, 2016

Relax the Physical

A seated woman, legs crossed, is presented to the viewer.  She is naked and glowing with colour.

The work is done in pen and ink and utilises a polychromatic palette against a midnight blue background.  Despite the languorous pose the many colours vie with other to cause excitement.  The picture at first glance appears only physical, even the head is missing.  We look and see a torso and limbs.

The image symbolises my thought process.  It's well-known at this stage that I draw from the subconscious and fend off any conscious thought as I go.  This is because at moments of complete relaxation the subconscious flowers.  Active logic is eschewed for visceral force.  I draw from the heart and not the head.

Artists throughout history have always been see as the other.  They do things which thinking people seldom attempt - the allow the imagination, the subconscious, to take control and having done so  communicated more immediately with the world.  The pulsing colours and relaxed limbs say more about an inner stream of consciousness than any reasoned essay or textbook ever will.  In drawing the physical my subconscious has highlighted its beautiful irrelevance to the metaphysical mind wanderings that orbit within.  

In exhibitions I am always struck by how people respond to my work.  Their first response is always how they feel about the work.  This drawing underlines that experience with the physical contrasting subconscious colourful excitement.

Further details regarding the artwork are given here.