These paintings are a celebration of paint as a relevant, magical and expressive medium.

They are a journey into my internal honesty, sensitivity, belief and conviction in formalism, something which has been embedded in my practice for over 30 years.

Wether through representational clues or pure abstraction the same principles apply.

This body of work was completed over the course of 12 months but it was during the summer of 2021 that I took a step back and decided what I really wanted to convey.

I visited an exhibition of “John Hoylands Last Paintings” at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield. Booked a hotel as it was my birthday and knew I would need a few drinks afterwards. Wow!! Extremely moved not just by them being his last paintings but on how continued to push his abstract vision over many decades. Also made me question how much compromise many artists are forced to make to survive, including myself.

For many years I worked purely as an abstract painter and again I felt compelled to push myself again down a path that I had never completely deviated from but was not embracing entirely.

The 4 abstract paintings in the show portray my journey into and beyond chaos and the returning journey.

Through the perception of chaos it is my goal to gradually edit and refine the final painting.

The outcome can be perceived as subconscious expressive chance but this is always controlled by the mastery of the medium which has been acquired over 3 decades.

I am always searching for the surprise and wonder a painting can convey. To be taken to a different realm. Trying to go beyond the visible and known. To engage in a true act of discovery.

I also sometimes engage in the ugly, aggressive crude or even vulgar as these can conjure unsettling juxtapositions played against the beautiful, calm and serene. The applications of paint : thick impasto, gloopy, viscous played along side thin washes, veils, drips and poured paint set up theatrical tensions which are my preferred poetic expression.

The paintings are by no means esoteric but they demand time. They will reveal most generously to those who invest in the visual journey they deserve.

Matthew Bourne 2022