A year or two ago I wrote that the theme of all art is a universal one: the mystery of life itself. In other words not worldwide revolution, not traffic signs, not a crucifixion or the bank crisis.
This mystery is unsolvable and unportrayable, yet its manifestation does emerge in the many motifs used in art (which include worldwide revolution, traffic signs, a crucifixion and the bank crisis). Obviously it’s a lost cause, but as far as I’m concerned it’s a magnificent lost cause.
It should be clear that motifs matter in art, since they support the attempt to touch upon the mystery of the world from a great distance. For the past two or three years I have found a motif in thermography, a method of measurement used (via an infrared camera) to show temperature.
Thermograms have fascinated me for quite some time, and after a period of contemplating these I was able to start using them in my paintings. The aim is not an exact rendering; the infrared photographs should begin to lead a life of their own and give rise to new possibilities and associations. I have a certain preference for details from the photographs and for thermograms used for medical purposes.
The details interest me, partly because in depictions they seem miraculously to transform into something cosmos-like where stars, sources of heat and light play a role. And my fascination with the medical thermograms relates to the fact that, since 1998, they have prompted (inspired) me to paint the human figure again. With the majority of the works that came about, the use of spray paint (as well as alkyd and enamel) proved to be the most suitable; but in recent months I’ve also painted two ‘thermogram works’ with alkyd, highly diluted with turpentine and applied in multiple layers. This yields a chalky surface, which gives the result an almost fresco-like appearance, which is the opposite of what comes about in the spray-painted works.
