This mid-sized oil painting on canvas, called Then Again, is part of a series of works called Time Lines that was done from 2019-2021. The main image in this piece depicts a stylized bird image inspired by European Neolithic art and culture from thousands of years ago.

In paintings like Then Again, I have explored, in a visual sense and as much as is possible, how artists in pre-historic cultures viewed themselves, their world and their art. In some of my blogs I have compared their world-view with contemporary ideas about progress in art and the Avant Garde. For example, please visit my April 2020 blog.

This series also plays with concepts of time and the titles are temporal expressions. Is time linear, circular or something with several layers that overlap, meld or occur simultaneously? Conventional thinking is that time’s arrow moves in only one direction -forward into the future. But it is also suggested that time moves not only forward but also sideways (backwards is disputed). We are programmed to only perceive the forward motion of time, but it’s sideways mobility accounts for the frequently reported, non-linear temporal events. This has implications for our attitude toward not only art but all human creative activities throughout time. For more about the motivation for Then Again and similar works, please visit my January 2012 blog post.

The paintings in this series are also experiments with form; using techniques that draw attention to the process and materials used in creating them and are not part of the realist tradition. I seek to negotiate a middle path between aesthetic appeal and sterile abstraction; between the grip of the past and newness for its own sake. So while my current work has a conceptual motivation, I also want to communicate the joy of colours, lines and forms depicted in oil paint – to communicate at a visceral rather than an intellectual level.

No frame is needed for Then Again & it is ready to hang.

Neolithic arts & culture

Then Again