Artist Statement

Arising from a distaste of swimming and the lack of control in unfamiliar environments, these paintings study the idea of elegance versus inelegance of the human body outside of it's natural environment. The body reacts to the environment of water in beautiful yet peculiar ways. This is explored throughout the series and the swimmers are deliberately painted twisted in awkward, yet strangely elegant movement. The swimmers are removed from a naturally described background, they become unnaturally suspended in fluid brush-strokes which allude to water whilst outwardly expressing the physicality of paint. Their faces are obscured, adding to the oddity and cutting short expectations of elegance that are usually associated with swimming.