For as long as we have had the cognitive capacity to do so, humankind has been grappling with existential questions — Why are we here? Why do we suffer? Why can't we stall, reverse or quicken time?
These elementary questions prove ever the more difficult amidst the growing complexities of the modern world. How should we secure ourselves in this ever-changing tide? Do we look for meaning in everything we experience, accepting the highs and lows all as part of the full human experience? Or do we simply enjoy the good and survive the bad because in the end, everything passes? Perhaps peace lies in accepting these questions, this inner turmoil, as a constant, predictable state. After all, is it not this very ability to respond to life not just instinctively but with both reason and emotion that marks us as human?
The Unsteady As We Go collection of 16 works is the result of an immersive engagement with these questions. In surrendering to the depth of emotion they evoke, the artist provided space for colours, tones, lines and forms to interact of their own accord in the first layers of the paintings. This intuitive process of creating was followed by a more controlled, considered drawing together and balancing of elements. Now, suggestions of depth contrast with superficial mark-making, while pools of rest contrast with bursts of bold energy. Ultimately, the viewer is invited to appreciate the balance that exists amidst the chaos, making their own meaning as they do so.
This collection is divided into four series, each consisting of three to five works.
Series 1: The point of it all
A meaning lost (Have we forgotten the purpose of life?)
Assuming significance (Maybe there wasn’t ever any.)
Living with intention (Then I’ll have to assign life my own meaning.)
Series 2: The good and the bad
An assumed promise of prosperity (Me: Why do bad things happen to good people? Also me: Well, why not?)
A different baseline (Maybe “okay” is a more reasonable expectation of life than “good”.)
Depth of being (Experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions holds value in that it deepens our understanding of others. But what if we could all have been okay, all the time — no understanding needed?)
A life complete? (Yes, deep joy can only be experienced in comparison to deep suffering.)
Yet, it hurts (But then, wouldn’t “okay”, without either deep joy or deep suffering, have been good enough?)
Series 3: A slippery construct
Grabbing at the evanescence of now (If only I could make time stand still.)
Permanent impermanence (I should be used to this by now.)
Finding relevance in a transitory state (What’s the value of today if it’s overshadowed by yesterday and already slipping into tomorrow?)
Waiting for life to happen (Life is what happens while you’re busy making plans, they say.)
Embers of a past keep us warm (I could have sworn this used to be fun!)
Series 4: Distilled life goals
(“All you really gotta do is live and die”, said the ’70s country band Alabama.)
To live with awareness (Be present.)
To grow with humility (Learn, evolve.)
To die with dignity (Accept.)