Pat Walsh
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I am working with nature as metaphor in order to explore the connection between myself and the world, and to engage the viewer in this metaphysical dialogue. The subject of landscape also represents an inner state, which is reflected in the choice and treatment of subject. The connection between the artist, the materials, the subject and the viewer creates an "invisible ground of sympathy", (Chang Chung- Yuan , "Creativity and Taoism") relating one to the other. Images are pared down to their basic components in order that the reality behind their form be revealed. The plasticity of the forms conform to a particular view of the world at a given moment: The horizon is round, the paper is round, the image is round... The water in the ocean goes as far as England, France, Africa. It comes back again. The magnitude of that body of water is expressed in the circularity of form.
The paintings are not answers, but views of different aspects of a question. In this way, day often becomes night. Colours become different. It is painting about light, transparency, movement, infinity. Fireflies represent the mysterious forces within the universe. Nothing is as it seems.