The Sum of Many Parts

The Sum of Many Parts is a body of paintings made with oil paint and chalk pastel on drafting film.

Each work starts with photographs. Some are architectural, full of lines, arches and openings. Others are more fleeting: pieces of branches, leaves and shadows. I cut these images apart and collage them into a grid, moving the pieces around until they sit well together. It feels a lot like doing a puzzle. Then I paint from that arrangement, one panel at a time.

On its own, each panel is just a fragment. Next to its neighbours it changes, and the eye moves across the grid picking up on those shifts.

I am interested in the moment when something ordinary becomes worth noticing.