Kay Wood Artist

Kay Wood

Education
1999 MVA – Painting, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney
1996 BVA (Hons) – Painting Sydney College of the Arts
1993 BA (Hons) - Deakin University

Instagram @kay___wood

Represented in Western Australia by STALA CONTEMPORARY

I make paintings, clay objects and collage/assemblages, all of which are speculative forays into how things are in the world. Are there entities that we can re-present or is it all shifting sands. It is only natural to wonder as to what the conditions of our reality actually are, and a subset of that question is whether something we see as a three dimensional object is any more real that one which is flatter, what we call two dimensional. From there, the speculation is about dimensions that we cannot actually grasp physically, which is where a fascination with pictorial space goes in my work, and the corollary of that is a space that is within (things) which might be relegated to the realm of the psycho/imaginary/mystical.

Parts of science now argue for an inexplicable energetic field as the true nature of our reality – a space, so far invisible to us since nobody can actually see it or feel themselves occupying it, but which flows within everything we see (including us) connecting all things - so it is said.  We may not be able to articulate or re-present this ground to our being but we do seem to be able to intuit this 'other' field, and feel a connection that defies present logical explanations.

Since 'knowing' seems unstable and shifting, I resist taking a stand in my work. It is all about responding to the moment, at a time. Marks made, things joined together are as parts of a conversation with the mystery of our existence. As a result there are no fixed designs before making, only hazy outlines of what might be coming. Ideas form from the process of making, from listening with the eyes and thinking with the hands.  Certain shapes/colours and materials in the work are relevant to my own history of being, but agency or command/control is, wherever possible, relinquished. Instead I basically allow myself to be called to from materials, suspecting that whatever the reason is, it is energetically connected to my Being at some level.

Working with pictorial and three dimensional space, and responding to the energy from things is to be present to the surfaces of the world and the messages they bring (surfaces which seem to conceal more than they reveal at first).

The world is mysterious – acceptance is key.