The urge to my abstraction is an ultimate desire to engage with our world; my life and aesthetics. Through utilising line, form and colour I am showcasing oil paint in all of its glory. I exercise the medium in a dynamic manor: using the brush and palette knife to apply thick and thin consistencies with momentary bursts of splattered and sprayed paint evident on the large-scaled surface. Through this approach I leave a visible trace of my hand’s journey across the canvas. My personal mark is then the product of the event of the painting. I construct a hierarchy amongst the forms in the painting; some stand alone- giving them space to breathe- resulting in attracting the viewer’s eye. By embodying the current feelings and themes of my life into the lines and forms which construct the piece; I ultimately feel I am living through my paintings.

Through a recent term of studies at Central Academy of Fine Arts China in Beijing, my everyday schedule became that of undertaking life-drawing classes. With my practice focusing on the abstract – this was out of my ‘comfort zone’. Pursuing the classes saw a development in my sketching and figure-sketching skills. Through this process, I found a grand beauty in the female form. It is of pure wonderment and aesthetic interest.

As a cis-gendered male, I am now also for the first time curious in challenging myself with the female form from cultural perspectives. I want to explore what is shaping my personal views of female beauty. During the Luminous Bodies residency, I will experiment by sketching and later by transforming my drawings into formally and conceptually engaging paintings.

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Lewis Durrant explores the world of painting through playing and abstracting its conventions. He holds a B.A. in Fine Art from Kingston University in London. He is an emerging artist with group and solo exhibitions in England and China. He currently lives in London, United Kingdom.