Seth Marshall

Artist Statement

I'm most affected by imagery - whether from direct observations in daily life or from myriad technological reproductions of images through an ever-growing profusion of devices. Making sense of such a potential overload of visual information requires a decision-making process of selection when choosing an image as representational material in the painting process. Subject matter is almost irrelevant to me - the proliferation of this visual information renders any thematic connection from one image to the next, somehow diluted in importance. In a sense, the subject is negated from the image and that is what connects them and makes them the same somehow. There is a freedom, therefore, as detachment from subject and obvious meaning can be superseded by, perhaps, subtle nuance in colour, tone, brushstrokes for instance - the image can be the vehicle for a more subconscious communication of an abstracted and ambiguous visual language. The shape of a sky against rooftops, for instance, becomes a starting point or component for a composition; a recession of space or void inspires an area of rich colour. Within this context of evaluating potential source material, the possibilities for inspiration can come from anywhere and are boundless.