BIOLOGY

BIOLOGY is an exhibition which celebrates the voracity and diversity of life forms through a series of small-scale intimate colourful paintings inspired by the surrealist artist Max Ernst and using his techniques of grattage and decalcomania.

These techniques were adopted by the Surrealists to create imagery by chance rather than through conscious control.

Grattage is a technique that involves scraping and scratching wet paint off of a surface, in this case old Business Cards, to create an interesting and unexpected surface.

Decalcomania is a transfer technique, first developed in the 18th century, in which ink, paint, or another medium is spread onto a surface and, while still wet, covered with material such as paper or glass, which, when removed, transfers an often biomorphic pattern onto the substrate that may be further embellished upon.

Evolving life is not merely a Darwinian struggle for existence, but an ongoing striving for ever-greater complexity, multiplicity and creativity.