Light and Structure

A pivotal moment in my career as an artist came in 2013 with a visit to Japan. I became fascinated by the use of screening and light in traditional Japanese architecture. I loved the interplay between the outside and inside, how a garden could be seen through a physical opening, or a faint shadow observed through a screen. As Jun’ichirō Tanizaki wrote in In Praise of Shadows, ‘The Light from the garden steals in but dimly through paper-panelled doors...’ 

This captivation inspired me to depict feelings and memories as snapshots in time, which became a recurring theme as I explored the interplay of light and shadow, through a variety of media. 

My paintings depict structures, often rooms, where light filters across the architecture of a space. Subjects can be seen simultaneously as windows and doors where barely tangible forms, or structural elements can hint at a room recently vacated. Soft, muted light is diffused or refracted through the grids and screens and by introducing outside elements, one world seems to morph into another, captured as if through a veiled lens.