Relationship With My Own Work

As a part of preparation for presentations of research, I received an email form Alexis with a request. He was asking for a considered response to the following question:

What is the nature of your relationship with one of your art pieces?

This prompted a long process of reflection on the essence of my current practice.  I looked at my original artist statement and reviewed various versions of my project proposals.  My objective was to create a map of progress, while questioning what I was trying to achieve in my visual work.  It was a bizarre form of self-appraisal of own creative intentions with references to the use of formal elements and the overall visual language.   I have also tried to interrogate the nature of relationship with my paintings.  Subsequently, I have learned that my bond with my work depends on the impact of an emotional rapport with people, who I met during my travels.  It very much depends on my reflections on encounters with humans, who are trapped in vacuum of their overwhelming routines and repetitive environments.  These experiences resulted these people becoming the main characters in my paintings.

My reply was as follows:

Through my projects I feel that I discover my inner fears, longings and re-evaluate my uncertainties. My work seems to be an attempt to explore and question by metaphorical presentation my response to the hidden truths of the world. The essence of the value of these works is in their inherent meaning and an atmosphere, which manifests itself in the dusk of the space portrayed, thus the light may appear, where the hue of colour fulfils clarity and sounds with harmonious melody.

I paint people, who I have met during my travels. They are always of a special significance to me. Therefore, my work is an emotional appraisal of my encounters with them.

Alexis responded with a thought-provoking and intriguing statement:

“Thank you so much for your response and insight into your work. It is very interesting and I shall think on it. What you say opens out onto a world of ideas and questions.”