David Oates

“ My paintings and drawings have been described as exploring the paradoxical space between the flatness of the surface and its illusionistic depth.  The ‘Janus’ series “employ a charged minimalist language of carefully deployed colour and layers of translucent paint”, the titles referring to the beginnings and endings, the transience of daylight.   The ‘Kiss’ series refer to the visual interactions of  moons and planets, the mathematical progression of an eclipse suggesting, via its resemblance to a spinal column, the presence of human life in the larger context of space . Regarding the ‘Vampire’ series, the critic Sue Hubbard says: “circular holes penetrate the canvas, reminding us of the literal reality of the painting’s surface, whilst also calling to mind the illusion of a skin or membrane, of the difference between inside and outside” . “