Two-dimensional image making is central to my practice, and etching is a core discipline.
I think of these images as metaphors: that is, as imaginative redescriptions of the world – or proposals for possible worlds. They are not intended to be read as puzzles to be solved or codes to be broken, but simply as resources to be used. Despite their superficially Surrealist references, they are not attempts to access the unconscious: rather, they are attempts to exploit it. My position is that of Marlene Dumas who has said ‘Looking at images does not lead us to the truth. It leads us into temptation.’
What is particularly motivating in my practice is a curiosity about a specific aspect of human psychology – how it is that the conscious mind appears to negotiate hypnagogic and dream states, where unfamiliar standards of rationality and narrative logic appear to apply.
My subject then is the individual’s experience of alienation, anxiety, the uncanny and the absurd.
The titles of my images (where they have them) are not descriptions. They are not intended either to identify or delimit the range of meanings available to them. They are not meant to secure meaning, but rather to reinforce the insecurity of meaning.
*All images Etching
