Artworks by Thomas Donaldson

The portrait/nude has been a traditional subject within the history of painting, is easily recognizable, has been painted over and over again and something we’re all familiar with, our own and other peoples. This familiarity with the subject and the ideal of beauty in an increasingly over photo-shopped media allows me to develop the process of painting through abstraction, mark making and impasto and at the end of the process still have something that remains familiar although imperfect and slightly awkward.

The visceral woks are achieved through the application of thick impasto paint, dragging and smudging the surface plus the occasional intervention of the ‘happy accident’ or chance. All these elements contribute in the process of making or constructing a painting.

The works also acknowledge certain aspects of the existentialist premise that one cannot fully know or experience the reality of another person, and that this separateness underlies our daily consciousness.  

Although the works are representational and figurative they intend to suggest, rather than depict an accurate observation of his subject. This is more apparent as the viewer approaches the work, the painted surface dissolves into a seemingly unorganized arrangement of blotches and irregular textures.