This body of work, completed over the last three years, comprises acrylic paintings on canvas or wood panel, in varying dimensions. All of the paintings are abstract, referencing landscape in a subdued palette with surface texture playing an important role in establishing the "presence" of each work.

 

The paintings are a response to the anxieties of the present time, environmental and socio-political, and taken as a whole the show will have a ritualistic repetitive quality, hence the title "Mantra".

 

The word literally means "instrument of thought" in Sanskrit and may be a sacred text or a set of words used as a prayer or incantation either spoken aloud or repeated silently to keep the mind focussed during meditation. Mantras are an ancient element of Hindu and Buddhist religious practice, but more recently the word has taken on secular meanings as a repeated expression of belief or a slogan.

 

Each of the paintings in the show is a visual mantra intended to focus attention on the environmental issues that threaten the planet and an attempt to quell the waves of existential panic that arise from thinking about these matters, a visual equivalent to whistling in the dark.