Karel Thompson

Paintings for me are about mark making and the visual language they evoke; whether it is drawn, painted, scratched, gouged, flooded, scroll, stroked, dried or dusted. The mark is paramount whether accidental or deliberate and is recognized as a preliminary attempt to convey accidents of excitement before the secondary concerns of considered representation or composition.

It is how I feel as a painter and how for me I need to engage and influence the viewer about the subject on the day at the time. I want it to be a shared experience. For me painting is part painter, part subject, part paint, part accident, part viewer, part light, part intellect, part emotion - an integrated whole. I am excited where a painting takes me and at the journey I make with it, the uncertainty of knowing how it will be when it takes on its own identity.

I love the quality of paint, its accidents and the whole energy of paint and painting developing a total engagement. To me, that is what makes a painting, but not the expectation that it will show all or should in short reveal the meaning of life. The surface of the work and the way the subject and background relate to each other, and are given equal importance. This results in a challenge, for me, to preserve the integrity of the subject whilst presenting a sense of balance across the image as a whole which may mean altering accepted notions of beauty.