Infinite City

Infinite City takes images of contemporary life, of people from old photographic collections from past decades, and figures from museum collections - an attempt to present the life of the city in a pictorial, atemporal space, as if all exist in the same plane. Conceptually, if these paintings could include everyone who lives or has lived in the city then they would do. In that sense, the figures chosen are like placeholders, a necessarily reduced selection representing everyone, from all walks of life. Figures appear in grids, sometimes numbered, sometimes underlined, erased or circled, as if some unseen third party were making a selection or highlighting a moment from the life of an individual. The space in which the figures find themselves might be read as the city, or an abstracted space of eternal time, or perhaps the pages of a book in which moments of our lives are recorded.
Each person is painted, an observation of human nature, independent of the others that inhabit the matrix with them, But within a city, the built environment of concrete and neon, with its infinite streets and shops, parks, bars and restaurants, packed commuter trains, stations through which millions of distracted souls pass each week - there are the people who have lived and continue to live there and of those to come, and they are all inter-related, emotions, dreams and fears, a myriad interactions with subtle and nuanced consequences that effect and shape each of our lives, often in ways that are entirely beyond our control.
Our lives are constructed on our own efforts, but also shaped by external influences of good and bad fortune, of serendipity and timing. Infinite City shows this parallel view of the city, to create a sense of the people and of their dreams and aspirations that are often in the process of becoming fulfilled.
My three years in this city, that is full of signs and symbols that I don’t fully understand, the constant hum of life and language, have brought me much joy, confusion, and a sense of connection to the place and its people that have become my home. The work is made from this sense of love and empathy, through the observation of moments of life and my filtered view. It is a love letter to Tokyo, a city that will always have a place in my heart and to which I feel a deep sense of gratitude.
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Infinite Cities comprises paintings, in oil on panel, and in water-based pigments on paper, all made in the last six months. After four years of making purely abstract painting, this work represents my return to working with the human figure. Areas of poured paint, horizontal and vertical lines, and abstract marks function like marks on a sheet of paper, evidence of some external influence, rules and structures, unseen, perhaps subtle influences., moments of chance or good fortune.