The name of the show, “Dwelling Places”, refers to Martin Heidegger’s essay “Building Dwelling Thinking” where he addresses two central questions: ‘What is it to dwell?” and “How does building belong to dwelling?” As Heidegger eloquently writes “The way in which you are and I am, the manner in which we humans are on the earth, is Buan, dwelling… To dwell, to be set at peace, means to remain at peace within the free, the preserve, the free sphere that safeguards each thing in its essence.” (Basic Writings, Martin Heidegger, “Building Dwelling Thinking”, 1977)

The buildings where we live and call home are places in which we are free to dwell. The significance of home lies in its quality to hold, to safeguard and to allow. For this reason, I have chosen to use my home as a central motif in my paintings.

I create the illusion of space or flatness through the relationships of colour, tone, line and shape. The paintings work both as recognisable spaces one inhabits as well as abstract compositions of shapes and colours. I intend to make arrangements that can be identified and perhaps spark one’s memory, experience and imagination. At the same time, my paintings are constructions of colour.

As a painter, I see myself as a craftsman. The human touch is evident in all my work from making the boards, building the frames and stretching the canvas I paint on, to collaging and painting. All but one of the paintings in this show are collaged, which is a process by which I glue canvas or primed paper on to board and then paint the board and glued canvas. The collage acts as an additional element to the painting surface. I use this method as a means of seeing and a way to emphasise or contradict spacial expectations.

The motif, formal concerns and craftsmanship are integral to the unique quality of each painting.

Agnes Tyson
September 2015