I am a proudly self-taught outsider whose artist practice is an aspect of my spiritual life, I’m an abstract painter. My technique explores the tension between control and happy accident. I use a few different mark-making techniques, mostly drips, scrapes and splashes. They hint at movement, growth, particles swirling around or atoms bashing into each other. To some extent, observations of my immediate environment are a reference point for my painting practice. But these are loose, fleeting glimpses which are then deconstructed and spat back out, mixed up with other references. Here are some of my favourite things; flowers, the splashes after someone has plastered a wall, the rubbish around building works, the way plants and weeds push through everything and spew colour everywhere, the tangle when you look up through the trees and the light burns away all the details, flourescent signage, peeling faded paint on doors and fences, oxidised copper, tree sap, oil slicks. I also have a keen interest in early 20th century design, particularly the Art Deco era which also informs my colour palette.
My current body of work marks the jump from representational to abstract. It deals with the breaking of the old to give way to something new. It’s like the energy of spring, when everything bursts through, almost violently. For the new to come through, the old must be cracked open or, in some cases it must disintegrate altogether! Sometimes this can be a painful process. I came through some very big and difficult life events in the past 6 years. A new version of me has emerged now and this is being mirrored in my work: The almost uncontainable excitement of new beginnings and the energy of spring following a tough winter!
The evolution of my work has been built upon my abstracted floral drip painting technique, which was developed over a long period of time. I love the way flowers and weeds push through regardless of obstacles, the beautiful messy tangle and the way they are so fragile and yet strong at the same time. I’m interested in every stage in their life, including their decay, as my work is concerned with the cycle of life and death.
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Ellen van de Graaf 