A Swing Back to Self

I've been considering collaboration in artistic practice as a phase in a kind of breathing.

There are periods of expansion, when we move outward into collaboration, encountering other ways of thinking, making and understanding.

And there are periods of contraction, when attention turns inward, towards the individual practice.

Both movements offer different kinds of information and opportunities for integration.

Following an extended period of collaboration with Fred Braat, I've found myself swinging back towards my own painting practice. Not because the collaborative experience is finished or exhausted, but because another kind of exploration is calling.

I'm curious about what happens when everything I've encountered in collaboration meets the quieter, more individual conversation between myself and the materials.

Perhaps finding the self again isn't about recovering something lost, but becoming aware of a centre that has shifted through experience. The centre isn't necessarily where movement stops, but where we become aware of how we're moving. Each return offers an opportunity to discover ourselves a little differently.

Below are images of two recent solo paintings.