Sandbox
KOU Studios
Vancouver, BC
May 2022
This exhibition aims to provide a glimpse into my personal journey with nostalgia. The title, ‘Sandbox’, is named after my favourite childhood activity. This miniature mode of building symbolizes larger ideas. In the sandbox, I imagined mysterious and nonsensical worlds that only a child’s innocence can access. I developed dreams and fantasies larger than Earth.
As far back as I can remember, I have been trying to make sense of the world — examining minute details like the wind direction, and the angle of the southern sun at midday, and the migration of geese. Trying to understand my surroundings, beyond a scientific approach, but in a holistic, perhaps spiritual, but definitely always sensory way. In my practice, emphasis is placed on challenging viewpoints — both in the environments I visit, and in the studio, with the mark making techniques I implement. My process involves seeking out the organic rhythms and subtle inflections that alter a space. My work aims to tell a story about place and is rooted to themes of memory and the passing of time.
In order to create work with a theme, I have awareness and direction that informs the work. However, I also embrace the technique of Automatism to guide the creation. By using the unconscious, the mind is allowed to express itself purely. In my practice, I am always balancing the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self.
The paintings in ‘Sandbox’ are grounded in the act of creating. While making these works, I focused on practising free association in making, and allowed the artwork to take it where it needed to go. Never did I critique the work and ask “will this decision help or hinder the direction?” Free of influence, regulation, or a larger picture that I was trying to produce. But instead as a form of pure freedom.
In the process of making, I felt a childlike freedom. I allowed nonsensical mystery and simple curiosity lead my thought process. This innocence was at the core of each work. There is a direct line between unconscious thought followed by immediate action. Working within the moment, I used paint and mark making to draw on and off of the canvas surface. Each mark made becomes a sign of a tangible connection and departure. The work is made up of a variety of small reactions that illustrate my paths of process, and in turn creates a visual narrative. Since painting has been my medium for over a decade, it didn’t come by surprise to find that without structure, my muscle memory draws from a repertoire of familiar shapes and my mindless colour mixing tendencies produce a palette I know well.
As a departure from painting, I stepped into the realm of sculpture as an exercise to really push these ideas. I created an installation to complement the 8 paintings. During this expedition into 3D, I balanced creating with what I had in front of me and what the sculpture needed. At times the material heavily influenced the work. But then, as the sculptures began taking form, they developed specific problem solving that required specific material choices. I played with an array of media, pushing my way over learning curves, and frustration, until I discovered the unique forms on the other end. There was a certain playfulness I discovered in the new media.
I began making, without knowing where the media would take me. Inevitably I arrived in a place of familiarity. There was a point in the creation process, where I looked around me and realized that the sculptural forms began feeling like building blocks. All small parts of a larger world. This installation has strong ties to my childhood and converges memories of designing Lego houses and landscaping roads in the sandbox — two of my favourite childhood memories and activities. This is a space I am very comfortable in.
“It took me four years to paint like Rafael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”
- Pablo Picasso