Page 7 - LandEscape Interview

Paul McCloskey
Before starting to elaborate about your pro-
duction, would you like to tell to our readers
something about your process and set up for
making your artworks? In particular, what
technical aspects do you mainly focus on your
work? And how much preparation and time do
you put in before and during the process of
creating a piece?
Often the seed for a series of works will grow over
a period of time, months even years, even now
as I’m working on ‘The Omega (Awakenings 3d)’
flashes of new ideas are coming to the fore,
suggestions in my mind slowly leading some-
where, to be revealed when the time is right. In
relation to ‘The Alpha and The Omega’ series, the
concept is important, but once the concept is
clear each painting leads to the next, I work from
my imagination, clearing my mind of thought, it’s
the process of allowing and trust in that process
that brings each painting to a conclusion. Painting
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for me is an intuitive and instinctive act allowing
me to enter that place of no mind, however the
painterly qualities of the paint from impasto to
simple marks, the exploration of the characteristics
of the medium itself also matters to me, I try to
maintain quality and respect the craft, there is no
reason why concept, skill and craft cannot be given
equal standing. A painting can and in my opinion
should be a thing of intense beauty and excellence,
irrespective of how dark or light the concept is
behind it.
Now let's focus on your artworks: I would like
to start with The Omega (Awakening 3D) that
our readers have admired in the starting pages
of this article: would you tell us something
about the genesis of these pieces? What was
your initial inspiration?
My latest work ‘The Omega (awakenings 3d)’ still
in progress, builds on my previous series
‘Awakenings (The Alpha)’ and ‘Awakenings Reload-
ed’ this is the third in the trilogy of the awakenings
theme.
They consist of a number of cubes, some of which
are wall mounted and some of which are suspended
at varying heights from the ceiling, allowing the
viewer a full 360 degree view of the works, the
cubes question and challenge the staple of painting
being confined to the two dimensional surface,
pushing the boundaries into the third dimension
and is also a more literal translation of the work of
post impressionist painter Cezanne and the
subsequent Cubist movement, however the painted
surfaces of my work has more in common with the
Romantic philosophy, in particular that of Turner
and Rothko. Although the primary purpose of The
Omega series is to suggest the dichotomy of spirit,
being all things in all directions at once.
The trilogy is also relevant in so far as the triune is
representative of the whole, mind, body, spirit or
energy, matter, ether; this is a deliberate reference
to divine presence suggesting all that is substance
and spirit alike that makes up our entirety, including
the divine. My aspiration is to express spirituality
or the power of divinity within my works. I have
attempted to achieve the preciousness of Turner’s
intricateness combined with the impact of Rothko’s
scale and force, with the intention of drawing the
viewer into the flows and obscure textures of the