Anne Parkinson

 At the core of my practice is painting that encompasses thought and feeling.  In my work I use pre planned systems, letting the methodology control the composition of the painting. The devices I use are various and somewhat randomly chosen. They encompass systems, rules and mathematical processes which give me a base for the paintings. The systems and structures I employ provide me with the means to start a painting and they remove absolute autonomy from the work. I am interested in what makes a painting and in what terms it can be described and experienced.

For me, both decision making and surprise comes into the work. You could say my painting is an exploration of possibilities within the confines of a system. It feels to me that life is filled with complex rules, patterns of growth, habits and behaviour. Although I work to rules and strict limitations in the production of my work, paradoxically the outcomes are only revealed when it is complete. I like to think this draws a parallel with our experience of ourselves, our world and the patterns of life. I explore how these ideas can inform the production of my painting.

These ideas give me a starting point for my work. The feeling in the painting is in its colour. Colour is something that I do not choose randomly. I allow for playfulness in my use of colour. In my practice I like to explore the tension that can be found by using polarities and similarities of colour. I explore transparency and luminosity. Colour opens up new possibilities in the work. It is an important part of my painting and draws upon perception and visual experiences of our culture and our world.