When I made the paintings that are in this exhibition, I was trying to imagine living at a time in history, or in a country, when animals, plants and the landscape were really important to survival. The natural world would seem both more wonderful and more frightening, and you would feel more part of it than most people do today. It would feed you and provide you with shelter, but it might also kill you. You might need a shield to protect you. In nature there are no rectangles.
When you look at these paintings, you might think about the surface, which can look like stone or skin. At other times, you might feel that each painting seems to have a space within it, and you might think about space or depth, like looking into mist or a swarm of midges. This space is not real the surface of the painting is essentially flat but is an illusion. Lots of paintings, especially landscape paintings have illusory space. Other paintings, often abstract ones, are more concerned with surface and texture. These paintings are about illusory space and about surface and texture
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