Dhama Thanigasapapathy

The awe-inspiring power of climatic forces transform, dissolve and erase constructs over time and space, creating a sense of the ephemeral nature of time in relation to human lives. Rather than showing the moment of devastation, the work stands at the edges observing the creeping anticipation and intentionality and the elegiac aftermath. The ghostly remnants of the past linger as storms and seas encroach, time elapses, erosion occurs, human artefacts break down, natural objects are displaced, matter grows over the ruins of civilisations.

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Multiple layers of diluted paint applied over weeks or months produce an other-worldly quality of light and a sense of distance, time, expanse, depth and scale in both small and large paintings. Theatrical narratives and dark, brooding or dangerously striking colours convey appeal and threat. In a blend of menacing unease, the sublime and the fantastic, the paintings embrace the tension between celebrating the awesome beauty of a powerful nature and respecting its ferocious strength.

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The materiality of the paint – splashes, drips, paint flowing like water, air, fire and earth - echoes the chaotic nature of the subject matter. There is a tension between the evocative abstractions that create energy and the touches of detail underpinning representative structure, leaving the viewer the work of resolving the image.