Statement

“Without architecture, the world would remain illegible. Nature is the archetype of architecture only insofar as architecture is the archetype of nature. It is less that architecture is cosmic than that the cosmos itself is architectured.” - Denis Hollier

Architecture as "concrete matter" is naturally perceived as constant, static and inert. Yet, when a design is transported from the geometric stability of the architects drawing board and cast within real space, a state of flux is propelled into action. Like all material objects, architecture is held captive by its transient nature. The erosion of time manifests itself literally through cracked concrete and subsiding structures, but this instability is equally reflected through ideological distortions as buildings become adopted for uses often contradictory to their initial intention. The initial impression of our built world as unfluctuating is challenged by the notion that all forms exist as transitional entities, being constantly renewed and reconfigured in the constellation of their parts.

My most recent body of work has focused upon the shifting ideologies inherent within the history of the St Peter's Seminary building in Cardross. Built in the 1960's under a Modernist template, the building embodied a sense of idealism that was both architectural and religious. Since its abandonment, the site has become a haven for “deviant” activities and an icon of urban exploration, a movement which finds its roots in the Situationist's dérive. Through this re-appropriation, the initial intentions of the architecture are both reflected and distorted; what once stood as a controlled, rational space now assumes an organic, chaotic state both aesthetically and ideologically.

These concerns are expressed through a painting process which mimics the entropic force that brings these sites into motion. In this way, the experience of architecture is paralleled by the painting process itself. In relation to the flux of construction and destruction that governs architecture; subject matter is drawn from ambiguous spaces where boundaries between civilisation and nature, order and disorder, past and present become blurred and indistinct. Similarly, disparate techniques from the history of painting are appropriated and juxtaposed causing collisions of depth and flatness, representation and materiality within each composition.

Beginning as a rigidly constructed one point perspective, each image is built through the layering of techniques which rely on chance such as pouring, smearing and dripping. These chaotic processes are layered alongside more considered painterly responses, mirroring the fragile equilibrium of architecture and nature within each site. Initially prompted by the material experimentation of the Abstract Expressionists, I have intended to continually broaden my painted vocabulary, arriving recently at the appropriation of Gerhard Richter's “squeegee technique”. This technique allows the illusory nature of the surface to be interrupted at intervals, gently eroding the clarity of the initial construction and fundamentally echoing the notion of entropy within the history of St Peter's.