ARTIST STATEMENT

I am primarily interested in how paintings and art works are made, and my work is concerned with the pictorial language of image making and how that language engages with the construction of the evolving image, both technically and aesthetically

My oeuvre is based on the close searching observation of both the object and of the natural world, with a particular interest in organised spaces, gardens and pattern. The images are determined by the locations I choose, the still lives I construct and about the observation of the interplay of light. These issues are demonstrated by my preoccupation with the relationship of light between the interior to the exterior and by witnessing the workings of and nature through sequential studies in organised and manicured spaces. These concerns provide the subject matter that enables me to explore and examine the formal issues necessary to construct and manipulate a particular image. This process allows me to both address and to pay rigorous attention to order, composition, pattern, pictorial space and to the meticulous rendering of detail.

My principal mediums are oil paint, watercolour, drawing and printmaking; these mediums are worked on a variety of different formats and scale. Previous and recent subject matter has involved the depiction of domestic and formal gardens, arranged flowers, the rain forest canopy and harbour studies. These have been coupled with the still life placed at a window examining the effects and interaction of light between the interior and exterior.

Recent developments have embraced the notion of exploring the compositional devices provided by the visual framing of the image. This visual framing is often achieved by depicting either a

window or employing an architectural or botanical feature. Current paintings and prints are concerned with the interior/exterior theme that explores the notion of the window operating as both the pictorial frame and as the picture plane.

The images are initially explored through drawings, usually graphite on paper. These drawings or aspects of these drawings are then developed through one of my working mediums, either oil painting, watercolour or printmaking and often revisited through each of the mediums as each process requires and determines different outcomes.

The outcomes vary between small and large oil paintings on canvas, sequential studies painted on small boards, watercolour paintings often as large as one-metre square, etchings, and relief prints. The etchings are either stand-alone images, or sequential images based on changing light, both use a process of multiple plate colour printing. The sequential prints provide the opportunity for producing large-scale prints. The relief prints are linocuts and wood engravings.

— Graham Marchant