Clive Pates
About:
My work deals with what I would see as a pivotal role of realism, the role of paint on canvas and a continued development of mark and gesture as an evolving language. To this end over the last fifteen years I have almost completely returned to working with the landscape, a formal structure that contains an inherent abstraction and allows for multiple interpretations of the same subject.
Each painting is worked in series and built up slowly over multiple painting sessions, this process is not intrinsically about creating more detail, but about the understanding and translation of an emotional dialogue between myself, the landscape and picture surface.
I would describe myself as a 'gesturalist painter', the mark making process does not give away the illusion of detail and does not give in lightly to inspection. I work mainly with painting knifes to create a mixed surface impasto that is complex and multi layered. The marks are left open and create an evolving level of interpretation. The viewer is drawn in to explore further, creating a dialogue, asking the viewer to engage with the painting over many visits.