Unseen Forces: A Visual Dialogue with the Landscape
The natural forces that shape our planet—erosion, tectonic shifts, glacial movements—have long fascinated both scientists and artists alike. In art history, landscape painters such as J.M.W. Turner, Caspar David Friedrich, and the Hudson River School, artists sought to capture the power, mystery, and grandeur of the natural world. Turner’s atmospheric storms, Friedrich’s meditative vastness, and the sweeping vistas of 19th-century American painters all reflect an enduring human attempt to comprehend nature’s overwhelming scale and energy.
My work follows in this tradition but through a contemporary lens—exploring geology not just as scenery but as a dynamic force, a living archive of transformation. I am drawn to the unseen forces beneath the surface, the slow violence of erosion, the tension between stability and upheaval. In my practice, I think about visualizing these processes, a dialogue between art and earth sciences.
By examining the geological framework of landscapes, I engage with the same awe and reverence that fuelled generations of artists with a contemporary abstract approach using material experimentation and a deeper inquiry into time itself, humbly translating Earth's restless movements into a visual language that reflects uses and abuses and its ongoing metamorphosis, climate crisis, and my own place here.
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Erosion Series
Immersion in wild, remote places such as my art residencies in Iceland, profoundly influences my art.
My sensitivity for humanity's place within the ancient, slow-moving strata of the Earth is a vivid contrast.
Geology feels like a portal to belonging—a metaphor for solidity and permanence, countering feelings of displacement. Erosion, in turn, serves as a metaphor for the discarding of old attitudes and beliefs.
My process involves playful experimentation with materials, allowing mediums to settle into textured surfaces that evoke topographical and subterranean landscapes. Natural processes, like pooling and evaporating paint, mimic some of Earth's dynamic forces.
My work reflects the beauty and mystery of these forces. Through my practice, I aim to develop visual language that might describe such contrasts of time and beauty and to deepen my awareness while inviting viewers to embark on their own visual journeys.
These works below evolved from my experience of time spent at a residency at Skaftfell, Seydisfjordur, Iceland. The patterns on the dramatic slopes surrounding the small town are the result of ice melting and thawing repeatedly over millions of years.
