5 Elements, 2016 - 2019, each, oil on cradled board 35.6 x 28cm
5 Elements is a series of twenty-seven paintings, each one a meditation on one or more of the Five Elements. Also known as the Five Phases, Taoist Five Elements Theory, used in Chinese philosophy and Traditional Chinese Medicine, posits that the Universe is made up of different vibrational energies that are in a constant state of flux. Yin Yang Theory is at the core of the teachings from which the Five Elements, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water emanate. The concepts were formed by observing nature and teach us about the nature of the Universe and the nature of being. For example, the element of Wood is a link between Heaven and Earth, Wood’s creativity turning heavenly energy into earthly form. As the child of the Water element, Wood emerges from the undivided whole and gives rise to the separation of individual forms. Wood is controlled by Metal, which limits or directs its growth. A transformation occurs from what was stored as dormant potential energy in the Water phase into living matter in the Wood phase. Any growing thing, even an idea relies on Wood energy.
Although each painting in the series started with the intention of spontaneous expression and the avoidance of any preconceived ideas about the Five Elements, at some point the imagery in each painting became something more defined particularly in relation to other paintings, which were being made simultaneously. As ideas developed about what each of these Five Elements might look and feel like, another focus was on thoughts about the potential shifting interplay between energy and matter, whereby objects might change or lose form, for example. The constant creation and destruction cycles that are inherent within the painting process mimic the idea in Five Elements Theory that everything exists in a constant cycle of movement and flux. I have always been interested in kinetic energy and the depiction of energy movement in my work and in this series, I explored the depiction of primordial essence as imaginary forms at different stages in their birth-death-rebirth life cycle, captured at different moments of transmutation, for example, filling or emptying, forming or breaking apart, emerging from or merging back with the whole. Finally, there was a third obsession that appears within these works that draws on creation myth, oneness and the egg as a metaphor for all life, which is why many of the paintings contain a single central motif, the use of pattern also serving as symbolic of ‘the fabric of life’ or oneness.
These works were created as a series, to be configured in many different ways. There are twenty-seven paintings because initially they were made up of three sets of nine, the number nine being widely used in the ancient world as a symbol of Heaven, culmination, and fulfilment. Each work can be viewed separately but the paintings also form relationships between each other when viewed as a whole or in any configuration, be it in pairs, threes or four or more paintings at a time. This interests me because I am fascinated by any meaning that might arise from the work being fluid and unreconciled so that the act of viewing the work is mutable and open to change.
The Potential For Everything: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, 2019: each, oil on cradled board, 35.6 x 27.9cm