7 x 7 cm | 2 x 2 in
Subject: Abstract
Tags:
Stars,
Space,
Other Worldly
Original mixed media painting on canvas.
"In my “Paintings Is Infinite” series I re-assign the object hood of the reversed canvas stretchers with an altered state of identity. There is a point where the familiar shifts - at which the level of recognisability becomes terminated. By shifting zones of retinal perception, I alter the way in which the rear of a canvas is to be interpreted. By turning the canvas around and using the unfinished backing as the frame, I initiate the idea of the canvas as a portal that looks out. These pieces occupy a place amidst optically perceived physicality, at the point at which the imagination becomes conducive to metaphysical contemplation. Artistic mechanisms that I involve often include juxtaposition and a binary aesthetic; wonder and nihilism oscillate, the relatively micro near gazes out to the macro. The intention in the series is to generate minimal, zen-esque compositions that can present an intuitive point of departure towards what lies beyond. Here, I seek to instill a transcendent sense of wonder intended to guide the viewer to tap into the sublime, drawing attention to the mental faculty that enables man to be transported by Art. When we close our eyes we are in a space that has no edges that has no dimensions that is immeasurable and is equivalent to the deep space of the cosmos. The meditational aspect of my work may be inherited from my Chinese side (my grandmother was Buddhist) and during recent years I have investigated a number of meditation techniques. Almost instinctively I seek to instill my work with an aspect of meditative engagement, to help counteract the over saturated digital world that dominates contemporary life."
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Selected for: Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2017, John Moores Painting Prize 2014, Lynn Painter-Stainers 2015. Pre-selected for: Royal Society of British Artists 2015, BP Portrait Award 2015.
David OMs skyscapes and telescopes communicate a huge sense of scale. Observatories ogle upwards like giant eyeballs, and miniature figurines gaze outwards through trompe d'oiel windows – created by the frame that stretches the canvas. Showing us the back of the canvas in this way suggests that the image lies somewhere in the infinite yonder.
There is a sense of dignified Zen-like detachment to much of David OM's work, many of his compositions function through minimalism and juxtaposition clarified through studious critical practice. At the core of his work oscillates a pure sense of wonder alternating with a cold nihilism. His art often interacts with space science and astronomy whilst incorporating a metaphysical subtext that enables subject matter to assume new (often existential) symbolic meanings.
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