Jean Arp loved natures forms because he felt that nature buckled modern society’s overdependence on reason. These delicate landscapes consider the struggle between our desire to impose form on the natural world and its unwillingness to conform. The physical world corrupts, erupts, distorts and discolours  our efforts to suppress, edit or frame it.

 

There is also human error. Although I strive to apply my own structure to these works through concentration and technical skill, I fail. I make mistakes, my concentration wanders, I change my mind, I can’t maintain a straight line or a perfect sphere. I find I am being pulled toward an intuitive way of working, like stacking firewood.

 

The finished piece is evidence of fallibility, methodology and is an expression of nature’s fragile and yet robust qualities. The work becomes a study in texture, colour and process led by the nature of the material.

 

The title for each work is provided by the location that the timber is found. How it has responded to its surroundings and environment is central to the narrative.