To see the above photos in more details, click on the image above, to read about them click below
Top Image
“Magritte’s Lost Jockey”
A reinterpretation of Magritte’s first surrealist painting, “Le Jockey Purdue”, left , which he painted 100 years ago in 1926
My version features trees and background from Deal Vlei
Other Images
The above was a prospective entry for the Amersham Photographic Society’s Annual exhibition. The text is effectively on the mount of the picture. I felt that the image needed explanation to resonate with the audience. The organisers felt that text either next to or on the picture’s mount would spoil clean lines and flow of the exhibition as a whole. So merely the inner picture, nicely printed on PhotoRag paper was accepted
“London Skyline – Dystopian Mono”
View from the Millennium Bridge towards the City; distorted with movement blur to that the foreground building appear static and moving sideways, whereas the skyscrapers behind are distorted and blurred vertically. The dark clouds are a foreboding background
The above are extreme ICM abstracts of St Paul’s Cathedral, top, and Blackfriars’ Bridge, below. The images are almost completely abstract and subtly flow out of the frame
“Mantle Portal Triptych”
A development of the portal idea, as expounded in the Double Abstract Manifesto above. Note the top left portion of the second image gives the viewer direct access to the underlying image, emphasising the foreground/ background relationship
“Vertical Cur Portal Diptych”
Similar concept to the triptych above with the foreground/ background relationship. Note that the access to the background in the left image appears to be the brightest point in the whole picture. An optical illusion as one cannot get whiter than the complete white of the page
The images were created, at a different time of day, using the same sculpture as for the triptych
Developing the edge between states:
“Portal Triptych II”
The intention is that the circles provide access to a state halfway between foreground and the white background
As stated in the Manifesto earlier in this post, the pictures are intended as a prompt to the viewer’s meditative thoughts. In terms of the motivations discussed in the next section, they are intended to stimulate The Eye and The Spirit
“Magritte’s Kiss on Hastings Meadow”
Back to Magrittian surrealism. The above is a direct recreation in the line of Magritte’s Le Baiser paintings (he painted several between 1938 and 1957). Mine combines a summer day time shot of Hastings Meadow, near where I live, with and evening winter shot from the same location. The division between the two being a bird in flight, photographed on the same field
Below, the arches, in the manner of de Chirico, lead to an alternative space, much like Magritte, with a summer’s sky replacing the wall. The doors behind the wall lead to a night sky, and perhaps a darker psychological state
“Seville Alcazar Day and Night”
Philosophers
11th July: Matt of Creative Deep Dents
The key to abstract art (and I would contest, all art) is understanding the motivation of the artist. This is not to copy the objective world, as one might with an automatically taken photograph, but to enhance in the viewer one of the following:
- The Eye – visual stimulation and innovation
- The Heart – direct communication of emotion
- The Spirit – influence on the soul through psychology, philosophy and spirituality; including connection with the collective unconscious as defined by Jung – often the goal was to express a deeper thruth
- The Mind – ideas and concept
- The World – provoke thoughts and actions that lead to the world being a better place
New Artists
22nd July: Richard Hambleton
Contemporary of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Known for both his Shadowman graffiti, Rodeo images in a similar style, and (probably heroin influenced) landscapes. Tragic self-destructive lifestyle but he ironically lived longer than his two contemporaries combined, and technically died of cancer, and unlike his contemporaries he was not financially motivated beyond supporting his rampant drug habit
Notes:
- Spring 2026
- June 2026
- July 2016
- August 2026
- Winter 2026
Recent blog posts:
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