Choas
Oil on canvas
Rooke Gallery
Johannesburg
2010
Chaos aspires to change the cycle of landscape painting to make the outcome of the works as unpredictable as the weather. Here the artist´s focus falls squarely on the fragility of the viewer's mindset. The paintings are an exploration of the fabricated landscape but take on a more expressive direction. An abstract element is introduced which in certain cases consumes the work much like a natural process (be it constructive or destructive). Furthermore, the notion of "things falling apart" is dealt with as an exorcism of sorts and the distorted outcome is an expression of the artist’s own state of mind on the canvas, creating a personal record of the trials and tribulations of personal life. It remains the place where individual opinions, ideas and beliefs are dealt with.
Ultimately, the works are about the decaying of the artist's understanding or misunderstanding of certain aspects of life and dealing with one's demons. The viewer is able to share and identify with the underlying concepts of melancholy, frustration, grief, longing and joy.
