Now

 

Chaos has always fascinated me, mainly because I'm drawn to its novel complexity and, I suspect,  a design of things playing out behind the scenes - a mysterious presence.

 

There is order in the most random of textures, elegance in the shakiest of lines and a system in the most dispersed placement of shapes.

There is pattern everywhere.

This thread of thinking has been covered extensively with ideas on fractal geometry -  the material is vast and incomplete.

In very broad terms it's about energy and the deceptively haphazard nature of it.

These notions are not far from my thoughts when I create something visual.

 

My introduction to art was made via photography. I was fascinated with what seemed to me as an almost magical process, and the alchemy in the darkroom. In order to take this new passion further I enrolled at Northland Polytechnic and completed my degree in the Visual Arts.

 

The subject material  frequently varies, but always for me, the most fascinating element is the texture. I particularly enjoy capturing the breaking down effect that time and nature has on man made objects, creating worn, weathered, and rusted surfaces.

 

Curiosity and an urge to create more tactile surfaces led me to experiment with new mediums. The old enchantment of the darkroom evolved into an affinity for diverse and not wholly compatible ingredients.

Over a span of fourteen years I mixed oils with acrylics, plasters with P.V.A, played with crackle mediums, Liquin, sand and more recently, encaustic wax.

 

But presently, having come full circle, my interest  lies again with the photographic image. Technology has opened up more possibilities  with increased storage and digital information and the camera has captured my attention again.

So now my fascination with physical texture has been re-defined.  It now resides within the more subtle but sumptuously tactile surfaces of paper.

 

Shannon Gleeson