lebelland visual diary

triangulations draft #9

triangulations draft #8

triangulations draft #7

triangulations draft #6

triangulations draft #5

triangulations draft #4

triangulations draft #3

triangulations draft #2

25 x 25cm
work has begun to paint all drafts on 100 x 100cm stretched canvas

triangulations draft #1

acrylic paint, coal dust, oamaru stone, brick dust on card

Daniel on Audrey. The Tessellation Series.

My definitive reflection on this series of paintings is a sense of benign engagement.

There are a total of six pieces, each a square metre, all painted in white and black.
Here we are offered one of many operations to consider, the white is not white, nor is the black black.

There is little urgency in these consideration, rather we are slipping from one realization to another with an inchoate ease. We are in the ontological field where art is liberated from the constraints of representation. We sense something to be uncovered, revealed and are prepared to look for it.

The formal structure of the patterns is rigorous and exact. Edges are crisply defined and defiant, no random gestures to be found here. And yet the focus shifts and slips about in a disconcerting manner, light bunches up into pinpricks, razor sharp and herein lies another seductive and elusive charm. Throughout we remain engaged, not because of what we know but more that we accept not knowing and remain enthralled in our role as the viewer. We undermine ourselves to reveal the new unexplored, unconsidered moment.

Figure and ground slide about, pulsations appear and vanish in the blink of an eye.

Line bends, converge and then easily and quietly settle. We move on, go back, play, cat, mouse and always waiting for the next surprise.

We are inside a transparent world, layers upon layers of tantalizing operations which reveal ever increasing complexities and refinement.

There is no tonal quality to the works. Every operation is pared down to it's essential almost mechanical value. We understand that these are tessellations and can see something about the juxtaposing interplay that bind and energize these constructs, but what we have here is informed not by a rigid functional dogma but by the almost naive workings of a playful mind.

There are numbers to play with, patterns, shapes like snakes, lozenges and discs hovering about, vials and severed heads, reflective and absorbent surfaces and there is nothing but six benign and engaging tessellations.

colour tape draft #4

colour tape draft #3

colour tape Draft #2

colour tape draft #1

marae draft no.6. paper collage. A3.

marae draft no.5. paper collage. A3.
hectorjo

marae draft no.4. paper collage. A3.
hectorjo

marae draft no.3. paper collage. A3.
hectorjo

marae draft no.2. paper collage. A3
hectorjo

marae draft no.1. paper collage. A3.
hectorjo

artists statement

As an artist I find myself constantly drawn to work that contains the emergence of space. This is a space that opens up when a shift or shifts happen in the viewing. Sometimes this is the result of something unusual, unexpected, a tension, and always it is the thing that draws me back to the work and keeps me interested. This is the element I seek in my own experiments with media and it is only when this 'space' that is more than the sum of it's parts, opens up that I am interested in taking the work further. It's as if space has opened up and spirit or soul can step in and give the piece creative life.

I am very attracted to geometric abstraction. There is something about mathematics and order that I find fascinating. It is there in nature and is part of us all. I like to subvert the inclination towards perfection in pattern and design to prevent stagnation and increase movement. The examples of non-figurative Islamic art of ancient times always included imperfection as part of the design. Releasing myself from image has been a revelation in my art evolution.

In my 'tesselation' series I have combined several processes that I believe open up space in my own work as well as undermining some of the traditions of painting. The six paintings of the series are all one meter square canvases and are painted using mat house paint with rectangular gloss inserts to increase layers of contrast. The grid that forms the basis of every piece is a simple tesselation of hexagon and diamond shapes. After extensive experimenting I chose these six because each one held a surprise in it's viewing. I consciously undermine figure and ground assumptions, work horizontally on the ground, use square canvases that can be viewed from any rotation, build up many layers of paint to obliterate the weave of the canvas and use the strong contrasts of indigo and off-white. The paintings in the series all speak to each other and can be shown separately or in combinations.

I would like to express my thanks and deepest appreciation to Gordon Walters, to my teachers Mary Alice Lee and Peter Adsett, and to my family of artists who are there in every aspect of my life and work.