The text contained within this painting is, in essence, the origin story for the ancient Greeks. Cosmogony by definition refers to the branch of science that deals with the origin of the universe, and in particular the solar system. For the ancient Greeks all things started with the concept of ‘Chaos’, and Hesiod’s text itself rightfully begins:

“In the beginning there was only Chaos, the Abyss”

It was this sense of emptiness that inspired me to create the piece on a black background, for me the black represents the great abyss, the cosmos before any celestial form or semblance of life existed within it. The text then goes on to talk about the emergence of the earth and the heavens and the stars and so on, transitioning from primordial forces to the birth of the early gods that we are all familiar with Ouranos, Cronos, Aphrodite and so on.

But on a deeper, more metaphysical level I am interested in what origin stories represent. Hesiod’s Theogony is about the transition from Chaos to Order, it is about the beginnings of understanding and cognition, and in a way I like to think this is reflected in my practice. Through this self-designed language I am trying to represent order and understanding in a visual way, whilst the application of the (approximately 45,000) dots of paint on the canvas might appear random, they are in fact a meticulously constructed code, imbued with logic, form, structure.

A set of rules that seek to present the unseen side of cognition that we often take for granted, in much the same way that the universe itself is determined by invisible systems and patterns. Ultimately what I am trying to get across to the viewer is that beneath the order we all see and experience in our day to day lives, there isn’t just a void, there isn’t only emptiness or chaos, there are in fact patterns, systems, geometry; all of which create life and order as we know it.