[2021]

Varnished pigment on 12mm birch plywood in floating frame

1200 x 1200mm

Deep State is a series of painting collections expressing the artist's experiences of the extreme emotions associated with Bipolar Type II, a neurological disorder.

The floating objects represent an aspect of the emotional state felt by the artist. These objects are held in stasis effectively freezing the emotion in time to observe and interpret.

The mood is largely determined by the colour palette; sometimes warm, bright and vivid colours suggest the high of a hypomanic episode and conversely the darker more turbulent palettes allude to darker states.

The landscape quietly or violently makes its presence felt in the background, reminding the viewer and the artist that storms are always brewing. But as all things, these too shall pass.