Held States
Held States is a series shaped by pressure rather than release.
These works emerged slowly, through layering, covering, eroding, and holding back. Instead of expressive marks pushing outward, the surfaces accumulate restraint — colour laid down, softened, obscured, and partially withheld. The tension in the series comes not from drama, but from what is contained.
Across the collection, structure begins to loosen. Grids soften. Edges blur. Forms suggest balance without certainty. There is a sense of something held in place — moments where movement is paused, suspended, or gently resisted. The works sit between abstraction and landscape, evoking water, weather, stone, or memory without resolving into a single narrative.
Materials and process play a quiet but important role. Layered surfaces carry traces of wash, erosion, and reworking, as though shaped by time rather than gesture alone. Marks are allowed to fade, bleed, or partially disappear. In some works, a single contrasting element — a line, a shift in tone, a restrained accent — introduces tension within an otherwise muted field.
Rather than seeking resolution, Held States invites stillness. These are paintings that reward slow looking — spaces to pause, reflect, and notice what remains just beneath the surface. They reflect moments of balance where pressure does not break, but neither does it fully release.
In a world that often values immediacy and clarity, Held States offers something quieter: paintings that hold.
