CLINTON DE MENEZES
contemporary artist
index - current - passage series - text
www.clintondemenezes.com | +44 (0) 7912 103167 | info@clintondemenezes.com
CLINTON DE MENEZES
contemporary artist
The Passage Series, as the word suggests, makes reference to a journey or voyage, the act of passing or the passage of time. The starting point for these landscapes are from aerial images of territories with current conflicted histories (wars, protests, floods, earthquakes) sourced from the internet and google maps. The figures and objects embedded in the surfaces of the work are of contemporary urban and suburban structures and are railway model objects which are sourced from the internet or found in charity shops. Each object is isolated and covered in an organic matter that seems to be growing off the surface of the work. Each work is built up with a plethora of materials, organic and industrial detritus and traditional paint mediums that are applied to the surface over long periods of time. The surfaces are then flooded, burnt and excavated to create landscapes which speak of conflict, history and process. In some of the works the objects and figures embedded in the surfaces make direct reference to the ruins found in the landscape paintings of the Sublime, the Northern Romantic tradition and in the allegorical landscape genre. In Passage Series the sublime landscape has been reduced to ash, the horizon line is buried in the surface of the work and the figures are left to contemplate fractured and fragmented geographies.
PASSAGE SERIES - text