THE WASTE LAND series.is based on the first 18 lines of the poem by T.S.Eliot and it sets out out to show the visual qualities of the English Language. Language is necessary in perceiving the world and it seems that we cannot look without having to, subconsciously, name what we are looking at. This becomes clearer when we are looking at an object and we cannot make out what it is. The moment we realise what it is it immediately comes into focus. As we attempt to perceive what we are seeing through language, is it possible that we actually shape the words so that they correspond to the image of the object seen, the action observed or the sensation felt?
As words are spoken the mouth makes shapes as if to illustrate the words; pictographs are created and words become visual representations of their meaning. The shapes of the paintings are transcriptions of the shapes the mouth makes when speaking the words and immediately after; the details are usually mine. THE WASTE LAND was chosen because it is my favourite poem. This series of paintings is not an attempt to illustrate the poem, but an attempt to reach the origin of the words.