Capturing Movement: The Power of Less

A large part of my work is about capturing movement, energy and the feeling behind an image as opposed to describing every detail of it. I've never be particularly interested in making a figure completely resolved. For me, there is often more power in leaving something out.

The Power of Suggestion

When I create art I deliberately leave areas unresolved. A figure might disappear into a series of marks, an edge might left unfinished, or part of the body may only be suggested.

This isn't about avoiding details. It is a conscious decision. Too much information can make an image feel fixed. By leaving gaps, the viewer has something to complete for themselves. The eye moves around the work, connecting fragments and filling in what isn't there.

In that sense, the missing information becomes part of the image.

Energy Through Imperfection

I also embrace imperfections in my work.

Some of the marks are controlled and deliberate. Others are much more instinctive. I might distort a figure, allow a line to run beyond where it should or build up an area with layers of energetic marks.

I don't want every mark to look polished.

The imperfections can give the piece its energy. They can make the figure feel as if it is still moving rather than becoming a perfectly preserved image of something that has already happened

As a piece develops, I often look for ways to increase the intensity. I might push the gesture further, introduce stronger marks, remove information or allow different areas of the piece to collide.

The aim is to reach a point where the drawing has its own momentum.

Dance and the Figure

Dance has become an important source of inspiration for me because the way the human figure can communicate so much through movement alone.

There is an elegance to dance but there is also something beyond the physical movement.

A gesture can suggest freedom, vulnerability, connection, separation or something much harder to describe. I don't necessarily want to decide exactly what that meaning is.

That is part of the attraction.

The same figure can mean something different to different people.

Leaving Room for the Viewer

I want the viewer to have some space to enter the work themselves.

Rather than presenting a complete explanation, I prefer to leave clues.

A partially unresolved figure

An area of negative space

A gesture or motion that fades out from the image.

These gaps allow the work to remain open.

For me, that is where some of the energy comes from. Art doesn't have to tell you the full narrative.

Capturing a Moment

Ultimately, my aim is not to simply reproduce the appearance of a moving figure.