"Gordon performs a delicate balancing act, deftly mixing illusionistic figuration with passages of painterly gesture and pure abstraction".
                 - DAVID TRIGG, STUDIO INTERNATIONAL, 2021

"These superb trompe l'oeil paintings resemble studio walls with studies and other objects pinned to the wall. The realism is so effective that from a distance I was convinced the masking tape wasn't painted and had in fact been placed onto the painting".
                                - TABISH KHAN, FAD MAGAZINE, 2021
 

 

In the last year, my painting has moved from a focus on heightened realism to incorporate a more gestural and intuitive approach. Paintings often begin in the studio with trompe l'oeil illusions of tape, woodgrain and paper then completed outdoors in view of the landscape .  

To me, painting and drawing is an act of invocation. A poiesis of matter and thought, where instinct and intellect create a place of attunement. A ritual space of imagination and embodiment, where materials have thought and the hand moves instinctively.  

I come to the studio to be grounded in matter.
The snap of graphite on paper.
The brittle bend of charcoal.
An oily stretch of pigment across linen.

Certain questions arise about gesture and representation, the illusionistic qualities of painting and the sensibilities of externalising the internal.