5 Elements, 2016 - 2019, each, oil on cradled board 35.6 x 28cm
5 Elements is a series currently consisting 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.
I began each painting first by loosely setting my intention on allowing spontaneous expression to occur, avoiding a preconceived idea about which of the Five Elements I might focus on but at some point giving way to the paintings morphing into something more defined. As thoughts and feelings developed about what each of these Five Elements might look like, another strand of enquiry became a focus for this work, centring on notions about the relationship between energy and matter and in what phase the continuous shifting interplay between the two might be. Through the constant creation and destruction cycles that are inherent within the painting process and which like most things mimic nature, Five Elements Theory allows me to explore the state of movement and flux that everything that exists is in. I have always been interested in kinetic energy in my work and in this series I explore the imagined phase that energy or matter could be in within its life cycle: whether something could be filling or emptying, forming or breaking apart. Finally, there is 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.
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