Paintings 2000s

01-02

02-03

04-05

07-

Artist Statement

Photographic images, compiled from the internet, of the 2010 Toronto G20 riots provided the source material for this series of paintings. The process was to make one oil painting for each photograph to a total of 20. The colours in each photograph were approximately matched in colour and quantity. These colours were then mixed together to create a monochromatic grey colour as a transformation from its source image.

A 12"x12"" painting is covered with the newly created monochromatic paint. The thick coat of paint is manipulated through a repeated paint stroke from a horizontally-dragging brush that creates a dense surface tension and physicality across the painting's surface. The 20 paintings are installed in a grid pattern which visually heightens their tonal differences.

The content of the source image is in the title but original photographic images are not presented. The paintings' colours, moods, and concept do give rise to the issues of the original events. These paintings create an unexpected visual sense of camouflage and its related histories. The artwork echos unknown current concerns, oppressive silence, public memories of politically-charged circumstances, and camouflage as hidden identity.

This series of paintings continues my artistic concerns of making the invisible visible; to make something visible that summons the invisible.