Biography
My works are mostly concerned with the representation of human bodies (and sometimes animal bodies). I am particularly fascinated by statues of antiquity and by the process of transformation from the sculptural to the pictorial. As a result, majority of my recent works have been evolved from studies on small clay figures I made myself. The paintings always seek to embrace human forms in its most primitive and transcendental moment – a moment of the mythical and the unknown, a moment of the in-between-ness of the human and the animal, and a moment of the dark brooding quality that a form finally emerges out of formless-ness.
I view my works as being in a very unique position - a peculiar mixture of the East and of the West - for my paintings are Eastern in their spirit and European in expression. Art history plays an important part in my practice, it provides the best framework for all production and it is the guiding force behind matters of composition, colour, and ways of expression. Most of my current works were produced with a look at ancient art and with a firm nod to German Expressionism. My immediate artistic influences are masters such as Per Kirkeby, Emil Nolde, Markus Lupertz, Matisse, El Greco, Tintoretto and Picasso, amongst others.
