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1994-2002

Shaped Paintings

“The first shaped painting (oval pool dreamer) appeared in 1994. Certainly it is influenced by my immediate environment. One clearly sees that the work has a strong reference to nature. That reference results in it escaping pure formalism.

These new shaped paintings are a metaphor for the sea. I want them to be beautiful.

I am trying to sublimate the subject matter of the shore in the hope that I can endow it with a spiritual charge.

The figurative works in this exhibition (1997) are the most distilled images I have ever produced. The paintings come from three sources: firstly the experience of living on the coast, secondly my own inner emotional state and thirdly the influence of the authority of much important abstract painting of the past. All the pain, pleasure, loss and trauma I have experienced in the past have also been called upon to make these works.

I’ve always loved abstract art despite being a figurative painter for most of my career. Now, with these new shaped pieces I am breaking new ground and nudging into a formalist area which I find highly exciting. They have materialised over the last few years due to an increase in confidence, knowing and maturity and there is the possibility that I am making the paintings I have always dreamed about.” Neil Dallas Brown