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John Michael Metelerkamp: “I believe that my job as an artist is to simplify the complexities of my life. Or at least my experience of life. The sense of overstimulation I feel and a propensity for chaos lingers around every corner of my psyche. The tension between chaos and order is a vehicle or opening whereby I can make the work I wish to. To make what I feel and see into a visual language is about focusing on something that I find interesting. And I may not be able to pin down the exactness of my curiosity; but I feel the need to challenge these thoughts and feelings and show myself what it looks like in a visual sense, with paint.”

“Experimentation is a huge part of the process. I try not to think until I am standing in front of the canvas with a paintbrush in hand. Forcing thought from my mind opens up possibilities of a journey through the painting. Colours dictate colours and forms dictate forms. As George Condo says ‘Don’t step back until you think you have something to look at’. I adopted this practice. I get close to the painting. I want to be in the painting.”

GALLERY