Only Ghost Don't Cast Shadows
A note on Reference
Insert Text
1. Reference
In painting a reference is an image that an artist refers to when they paint. Traditionally these can include studies from drawings, sketches or direct observation from life. But nowadays it’s common to reference images from print and screens. Not all painters work this way. Some just paint. Particularly abstract painters. Rothko and Agnes Martin come to mind. And I’m sure there are others that do both. I make mainly figurative, representational paintings. My paintings reproduce images of things that are out there in the real world. That’s one reason I use references.
Friendship,1963
Agnes Martin
(Image from theguardian.com)
One of my recent ways of working out my thoughts about painting was by talking to people and showing them paintings in my studio with the hope that their feedback might lead me to see things in different ways. In the past eight months or so, I have spoken to a number of people about this show. Some I know well, others not so. It was helpful and will continue.
Part of my ongoing question is: what is painting? What else can it be? How can I use it to talk about whatever I want to talk about? And how can I find an aspect of painting that is mine? Beyond aesthetics, or as a commodity. I am not against both of these. I mean, my creative practice for the last seven years has been sustained by selling paintings. And I will need to sell many more. But I must believe there is more to this. Even if there isn’t.
(Edited by Wong Hoy Cheong)