Mono-screenprints, 2020

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Scientists who study the experience of beauty have shown that people prefer images with the same spatial characteristics as natural landscapes. Our brains are hard-wired to process the environments we evolved in really efficiently. What is “easy on the brain” is “easy on the eye”. In the presence of beautiful things, we can experience ‘flow’ - a state of mind of total absorption where you strongly focus on and become fascinated with a particular action or object.

These themes weave heavily into my practice. Through abstract expressionism, action painting and printmaking, I replicate natural forms and landscapes. In the pursuit of beauty, I encourage immersion and transcendence, perhaps the sublime.

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The chance + CONTROL print series applies an abstract expressionist approach to screen printing. To create this print series the back of the silkscreen was painted by hand, embracing the physical act of painting through gestural brushstrokes and drips. I repeated this process without washing the screen, storing "memories" of previous prints in the screen mesh. Areas became clogged with paint refusing to print at all.

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The result was a series of one-of-kind prints which are impossible to repeat - "mono-screenprints". The earthy palette, complex layering and repeated paint gestures are spontaneous and abstract and yet form expressions of nature. Object detection AI reveals the natural forms in my work, it sees "tree, wood, twig, grass" in this work