James Lumsden Artists Statement

My work is primarily concerned with the creation of an illusion of light – building multiple translucent glazes of paint until an atmosphere and sense of light and depth is achieved. I create paintings where perception and the experience of viewing are primary.

My working process involves the application of multiple (up to 40 or more) thin glazes of acrylic paint and gloss medium on a fine gesso ground. Each layer is dragged, pulled or squeegeed with various implements – the process being repeated layer upon layer until the final painting begins to emerge. Arrived at by both chance and deliberation, this final painting reveals varying chromatic strata, which can be seen through the translucence, pentimenti and depth of the work.

The series Liquid Light continues the formal compositional simplicity of my earlier work, yet the restrained minimalism of these earlier works has given way to paintings of greater richness and depth, to seductive surfaces rich in incident. I am interested in how the depiction of light and space, depth and feeling can be rendered purely through process, controlled chance and accident within the application of paint.

I aim to make paintings which are luminous, seductive, sensual and atmospheric. I am fascinated in how the basic materials innate to the medium – stretcher, linen, pigment suspended in medium – can be turned into something poetic; an object filled with light, feeling, and emotion. The struggle lies in attempting to reach that stage.