Emergence

Item Description: Series of three, Ink on paper, 29 cm x 29 cm each, 2020

Artist Statement:
My practice of drawing is line-centric with an intent to strip away the excesses. The intersection at which the intuitive abstract language meets conscious thought or an idea allows me to slow down, process, and distill the ‘everyday’ and perhaps try and understand myself and this world just a little bit better. The objective is to find what remains after you remove the noise, hazy layers, and the deluge of data that we are constantly battling.

Process wise, I work with various properties of lines: tonal qualities, fineness, density, and placement in order to construct the forms as well as to render the ‘surface treatment’ of such forms. White ink on black paper aids in suspending reality to an extent, which I favour in order to create a more conducive environment for non-representational work. I actively try to counter hard-edged geometric forms by engaging the organic qualities of lines, that is the unevenness of a hand drawn line and choppy textures.

I like to experiment with the visual play of form and volume, light and shadow, movement and depth, often with references to architectural notions of space, which let me explore, albeit in a small way, the idea of optical illusions. This abstract language allows me to look at an idea but not in a direct, under-the-microscope sort of a way. This way of looking I’ve come to realise is often insightful as it melts away the physical world and along with it, its baggage and limitations. In this process, I attempt to bridge an idea (title of the work) and the work. I prefer to work in series in order to tease out nuances of and variations in the idea I’m chasing.