Not Quite Presence


The artist’s wall presents two works born from an observation of nature. Yet the gaze, first directed outward, gradually turns inward, casting doubt on the very presence of what is seen.
In the first painting, delicate stalks rise upward as if drawn from the earth, their luminous ascent underscoring the transience of their existence. In the second, a fortified wall of forest trees stands firm, but from within it a flickering light breaks through—unsettling the solidity of its reality.
This is a practice of covering and erasure. Layers of paint conceal the fabric, only to be withdrawn again, revealing its pale surface and exposing the light of the void. This void is not an absence but a presence in motion: a deceptive radiance that both illuminates and unsettles.
John Berger writes in his book "About Looking, "The attraction of the eye to light, the attraction of the organism to light as a source of energy, is basic. The attraction of the imagination to light is more complex because it involves the mind as a whole and therefore it involves comparative experience. We respond to physical modifications of light with distinct infinitesimal modifications of spirit ,high and low, hopeful and fearful. In front of most scenes one’s experience of their light is divided in spatial zones of sureness and doubt .