Maybe, the title of this exhibition refers to the artist's state of longing and uncertainty
during the various Covid lockdowns. A longing to visit places, and loved ones, that through
Covid restrictions became increasingly distant, almost vague memories or fragments of his
imagination.
during the various Covid lockdowns. A longing to visit places, and loved ones, that through
Covid restrictions became increasingly distant, almost vague memories or fragments of his
imagination.
But then Harris claims that artists often work in this space of longing and uncertainty, they see far-off images in their mind's eye and wrestle to pin them down, to pull them forward, to make them tangible and somehow real. He uses flowers and landscape motifs to explore this space of longing and uncertainty, a move that for him has become the foundation of his painting practice.
Layers of paint are put down only to be scraped away again, forms are moved, reshaped, and painted over. A painting is often no more than the accumulation of doubts and uncertainties. But in the end, it is always the paint that wins out; these canvases exude a quiet and serene beauty that belies the violence of their making.
In this recent body of work the image negotiates more openly with the language of paint for
a place on the canvas. Often the image stops short, doesn't quite cover the whole canvas, it
is no longer the only player, it accepts paint as its partner in this new dance and allows the
unknown, the maybe, to coexist in the end game. The conclusion in these paintings allows
for the uncertainty, the doubt. They are paintings of longing and Maybe.
a place on the canvas. Often the image stops short, doesn't quite cover the whole canvas, it
is no longer the only player, it accepts paint as its partner in this new dance and allows the
unknown, the maybe, to coexist in the end game. The conclusion in these paintings allows
for the uncertainty, the doubt. They are paintings of longing and Maybe.