Artist Statement

When we become still, breathe and soften, energy can move. In stillness there is much movement and as we meet the deeper layers of our being clear impulses arise.

My approach to painting is spontaneous, embodied and intuitive. My work is not preconceived; I allow each painting to evolve, giving space for a freedom of expression to take place at each moment of connection with the canvas, through body and paint.

Mark making is primal and instinctive, and for me, it is a direct means of expression, that holds in its boundless sensitivities and boldness, its hesitations and knowing, a potency that is directly connected to the deeper parts of my being.

I choose therefore, to work mainly (but not exclusively) without reference to specific forms, in an abstract gestural mode. Dealing in essence with the creation of marks, the quality of marks, freed and layered to create a dialogue of emotional landscapes and visceral expressions.

I see mark-making not only as a swathe of paint across canvas, a scribble of graphite, or a smudge of pastel. It is also the twist of the torso through space, or the deep hollow sound of a cello, the rhythmic motion of an elbow, or a flick of the wrist. It can come from a surge of emotion rising up in my throat to let out a yelp or wail, or from a word that comes in from nowhere, prods in my ear and won’t let go, or from a colour that seems right, even if it is not, at that moment wanting to have its say on the canvas. I see and feel these qualities as interconnected. I trust them as my stimulus. When I paint, I am engaging in an embodied process, giving awareness and presence to the movement of my body, sounds, intuitive thoughts and impulses that arise and feelings and emotions that stir. Allowing the energy that is moving through all of those elements to find expression in paint.

My process is deeply anchored in Eastern meditative movement practices, mainly spontaneous Qigong and other somatic practices that I have immersed in over the past twenty-three years. A fascination and necessity that came out of a long period of ill health and subsequently has become firmly embedded in my artistic practice. Along with the strong influences of Abstract Expressionism and Psychic Automatism, experimental music and an ongoing exploration of dance.

I love scribbling wildly in paint and moving it around with my fingers, and I am excited not knowing where a painting may take me. Offered, therefore, is a playfulness, a curiosity, an explorer, a warrior and a child, permeating through each mark on the painted surface. Pointing to and in intimate liaison with the chaos, the unpredictability, changeability, and possibilities of being.

My aim is to explore and impart a connectedness to my own human experience on a sensual, emotional and intuitive level, and bring into being, whilst being with paint, something which feels authentically alive.

The paintings arrive out of my openness and receptivity to what arises in a connection with energy. An exploration of this and simply a desire to express.

I invite the viewer to enter into their own response to these soulful, multi-dimensional layerings of moments and movements with equal presence.

Tracy Burgess