FREYANASH

Through my artwork, I reflect on the wholeness of being, the shared subconscious and the absurd complexity of life. I use a range of mediums to create my work, often combining them in one space, to create pieces that bring together abstraction and figuration, expressionism and realism. A balance between consideration and spontaneity is manifested through the application of these materials, as I draw together loose, gestural brush strokes and fine detail, such as with needle and thread.

The way in which I work displays a performative range of motions, capturing the way we move through life – sometimes raw and without restriction and other times gentle and precise. This is mirrored in the writing, which often overlays the work, bringing together poetry with automatic writing. This text, interlaced within my artwork, can be obscured or legible as I play with the space between revealing and concealing and the many forms of mark making.

The boundary of the seen and the ‘unseen’ repeatedly comes to light as I draw together inner and outer worlds to form the bases of my practice. Looking inward, I use my own experiences as a catalyst to explore the nature of the ‘self’ in a wider sense. Simultaneously, I explore our connection to the outside world, to reality as we know it, where both the organic and artificial continually collide. Where healing and wellness have connotations of both the natural and synthetic and our material bodies are continually repaired. Alongside this external transformation, we strive to learn and grow which leads us to a continual rebirth of the self. We, together with the reality we live in, are ever changing.

This notion of metamorphosis highlights both the fragility and beauty of life, as we reside within a state of constant shifting amid two certainties, life and death. I am drawn to alchemy as a symbol embodying this flux we experience, often using gold within my work as a sign of transmutation. Epitomizing the alchemical processes that we move through psychologically, according to Jung, and the transitional properties of life in a more physical sense. My use of varying mediums is a deliberate choice, in an effort to enact this process of layering, of order and chaos, as each piece is worked on interchangeability and is revisited over time; enabling growth and renewal.

This use of mixed-media creates tactile surfaces which are also able to uphold the boundary between the material and immaterial as the art moves from an idea, dream or feeling, towards something tangible. Use of materials such as bandages reminding us of the physical body, fallible and full of sensation, but also of the human touch and the modern world we live in. This alongside symbols and references to nature, myth and mysticism hold the work in a state that is both of time and outside of it. Taking us to surreal settings whilst equally bringing us to reality.

It is these thresholds concerning the known and unknown, the self and other, that we tread through consistently in our daily lives. Embodying the unique balance between the spiritual and animalistic, the sacred and profane. Portals, windows and doorways are used in my practice to tell this story, demonstrating these key moments of transition and the space
within this dynamic balance of opposites.

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