Completed Painting: 'Untitled (From The New School) 12'

'Untitled (From The New School) 12', Acrylics, Adhesive Tape, Ink & French Polish
On Panel, 30 cm X 30 cm X 10.6 cm, 2017

One of the advantages of my current to-and-fro creative process, is that individual works seem to emerge, almost by surprise.  Such is the case with this - the latest in my 'From The New School' series of paintings.

A lack of overall focus shouldn't really be a recipe for successfully resolved work, but it actually seems to have suited me quite well over recent months.  On reflection, '12' might not be exactly my favourite of the 'FTNS' series, to date - but it does feel reasonably well sorted out, and also pushes the ever-evolving series in yet another direction.

Whilst geometric formality within a standard format is the cornerstone of these paintings, this is one of the looser, grungier members of the family, and is wholly constructed from roughly-painted 'gumstrip' adhesive tape

'Flagging 7', Acrylics, Paper Collage, Adhesive Tape, Ink, Spray Enamel & French Polish
On Paper, 45 cm X 60 cm

The seeds of that particular approach lie in 'Flagging 7', from 2017, which is part of another series under the 'This S(c)eptic Isle' banner.  As with that flag-based image, there is, I think - a sense of something lashed together, or even bandaged.  If each of these 'FTNS' panels is intended to invite a new idea about, or interpretation of institutionalised education - I'll leave the viewer to decide what that might in turn imply.

The work on this particular piece was mostly done during lunch breaks, and after hours, 'on the premises', and at least one colleague claims to see the suggestion of a crucifix in it.  She's not religious (to my knowledge), and I'm certainly not - but it does lead me to question whether it's actually possible to employ any kind of cruciform motif, without someone freighting it with unintentional symbolism.

It's not the first time that's happened to me; which in turn makes me wonder if it might not itself trigger another body of investigative imagery, one day...