I worked on numerous experiments in different paints andtechniques to produce paintings that reflected the compressedstill abstracted image and the solution was found working inspray paint and oil. I used masking tape to stencil or createridged boundaries and shapes in which I graduated the spraypaint or dragged oil paint on a sponge, slowly layer after layerthe painting processes began to replicate or visual represent thecompressed computer images of the chosen movies. I believethat this series of work which is continues and ongoing, isconceptually tight and by utilising masking tape surprisinglyfreeing in expressive gesture and paint application.The process was forgiving in a painterly context. I think thepaintings conceptually ask the question; if digital technologicalimage making processes annihilate space and time of realityand the image, does the painting processes facilitate a rebirth orvictory to condense time/realityinto an intimate precious moment?If technology distorts our experience of reality can paintingprovide a truth or clarity of experience of reality?Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiryinto the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA:Blackwell, 1990 Paul Virilio - Decron, Chris. Speed-Space.Virilio Live. Ed. John Armitage. London: Sage, 2001. 69–81.Massey, Doreen (1994). “A Global Sense of Place”. Space,Place, and Gende Post modernity hermeneuticsThe second series of ongoing work which is entitled ‘Postmodernity hermeneutics’. Once again this whole seriesconceptual frame work was influenced and constructed onpostmodern philosophies and in particular the work and ideasof Fredric Jameson and the idea of “The waning (flattening) ofaffect” that appears in his work Postmodernism or,The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Jameson stated thatThe waning (flattening) of affect” is a “a whole new type ofemotional ground tone—what I will call ‘intensities’—whichcan best be grasped by a return to older theories of the sublime”He states that the general depthlessness and affectlessnessof postmodern culture is countered by outrageous claimsfor extreme moments of intense emotion, which Jamesonaligns with schizophrenia and a culture of addiction (mainlyto technologies). With the loss of historicity, the present isexperienced by the schizophrenic subject “with heightenedintensity, bearing a mysterious charge of affect , which can be“described in the negative terms of anxiety and loss of reality,but which one could just as well imagine in the positive termsof euphoria, a high, an intoxicatory or hallucinogenic intensity”Jameson (1991). Jameson’s idea of the ‘Flattening of affect’ isa scientific term describing a person’s detachment and lack ofemotional reactivity and is used in the postmodern literature todescribe technology’s dehumanizing impact.

A key example is the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey where the main characters lose their humanity whereas the computer HALgains “his”. I see these ideas as we all do occurring at greater intensity’s in our modern societies and cultures, as technologyinvades completely into the human experience, and as our technologies become closer to simulating humanity and human-ness. It was these ideas that I began to make paintings about in 2012 and have continued to make work about to this day. Ibelieve these paintings to be within the zeitgeist and have great relevancy. I began making the paintings by experimentingand exploring in my sketchbook and on digital art software tools. I looked for examples of the theories in every day cultureand in popular culture artefacts and realised the conversations between humans and Ai. technologies from intellectual sciencefiction movies perfectly illustrated Jameson’s ideas and concepts.I employed the painterly practice of ‘painting as writing- writing as painting’ and wrote the words from quotations of sciencefiction movies which were examples in concept of the ‘flattening of affect’ onto the canvas and left no grammatical gaps.This created a confusing overload of information and an abstracted image/pictorial surface and a framework or structureon which to paint. The works of text became an under drawing on which to paint and create marks and textures. This seriesof paintings can take a long time to produce as they utilise a multi layering processes of building shapes, textures, colours,gesture and mark marking. This evokes an ‘intoxicatory or hallucinogenic intensity’ in paint, a visual and painterly approachin surface treatment and pictorial outcomes. Often when people have written about these paintings they have wronglylabelled them as post graffiti, they are not. Stylistically they are more related to abstract expressionism and the work art of theconceptual artists of the late 1970s early 1980s. As this series of paintings has progressed over the years I have on occasiontried to introduce figurative elements into the paintings, I have found this difficult and have had effective and less effectiveresults and outcomes. Due to the painting process these works only really work effectively on large canvases due the nature ofthe busy diverse pictorial surface. Postmodernism or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism- Fredric Jameson (1991) (For more information you can contact Mark at his website:https//lloyd-fineart.com ) images and writing ©Mark Lloyd 2019 & referenced named or quoted essays

Niki HeenanThank you for asking [about my art] here are a few thoughts:A sheer curiosity of the natural world is what drives me as a painter. The combination ofmyths and legends of a location with the physical attributes of the landscape combine ina form of duality that creates an image in my mind. The sense of belonging or searchingfor remanent connections from the past dig deep into my soul and nature reveals itself insurges of energy through light and form.There is no telling where I might find such places and I often come upon them them byaccident when searching for some thing else but as they say in Ireland ‘the veil is thin’gives us a link into something far more resonant than painting a picture of somethingbut rather a picture that is something. Storms and bad weather provide heightenedsensations via the ionised particles in the atmosphere - these are the qualities of naturethat draw me into creating work in nature, for I wish to create experiences.

Barry De MoreMy studio is in West Yorkshire.I am primarily self-taught with over 40 years experience. My early developmentas a painter began by studying some of the great paintings in the galleries upand down the country. This meant looking at these works quite attentively andon occasions making drawings. I had the same approach when looking at artbooks, making copies simply to learn how to draw.I began painting seriously in 1976 and the main painters who influenced my earlystudio practice (although there were many others) were Rubens, Caravaggio,Titian and later Constable and Turner; then it was the French Impressionistsand not forgetting Walter Sickert (British) who made a profound impact on me.Finally I saw the work of Auerbach and Kossoff which lead me into neo semi-abstract expressionism. They taught me to be more courageous in my approachto what painting could be. Kossoff’s work showed me how painting could bedrawing and drawing, painting.My primary source of inspiration is from observation and I have always givenprecedence to drawing. I find that for me drawing begins the intimate relationshipbetween the subject and myself. The drawings are more than topographical theygo beyond the representational as I seek for an expressive language to interpretwhat is before me. It is always a case of asking, “how do I do this?”This is because every painting is new and has a new approach.

painting shown on these pages: Top left hand side: “The Lock at Salterbridge.” Bottom Centre: “Skew Bridge Todmorden.” Top right: “Greenwoods from the Library, Hali- fax, West Yorkshire. all paintings ©Barry De MoreBack in the studio I work from sketches or photos, this is the starting point,but as the painting develops it can be changed many times and then thedrawings and/or photo is discarded as I work more and more with myfeelings and responses to the painted surface of marks and shapes.To me the painting can turn out to be a total surprise from how it began andI find I’ve created something ‘new.’ This all comes about becauseI paint quickly and do not allow myself time to think too much, because longconcentration on a given area takes away from the fluidity of the making ofthe painting.During the actual making of the painting I use a rigid kitchen knife to createfurrows into the paint, which adds to the overall energies of the painting.I like to work wet in wet with quite heavy impasto gouging into the paint inorder to add another dimension of expression to the drawing into the paint.The thick paint texture is not to create a ‘look’; instead, by building up thepaint I try to make something that works and that looks like a painting.It takes courage and a certain amount of risk to keep going even though itmay look wrong. I continually work the painting as I do the drawings andI continually destroy and remake until something comes alive.As a serious painter I am constantly looking for a way to express my warmfeeling for Yorkshire, its landscape and its people.I was a mature student at Bradford College of Art and gained my BA (Hons)in Fine Art (Painting), this was followed by a teacher-training course atHuddersfield University where I received my PGCE in Further Education. Barry De More

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