James bellaney Artist statement 2011

James Bellaney Artist Statement Process is the chief aspect of my work. Even if the work turns out to be bad from my point of view then it would be like having an inevitable bad moment in life, that it is what it is and the best thing to do is learn from it. The process can be seen as an expression originating in a combination of aggressive and delicate marks and forms. Paint and painter are friends who have an intimate relationship, often struggling against each other, like so many relationships, but sync together to make a harmony of brilliance, action and even horror, revealing each other’s truths and histories through the contrast of their interactions. I find paint a medium for transcendence, I love its hypnotic elements, the way color and the mediums, especially house paint, react against another. I situate my work within the western history of painting and Maori spirituality. I am fascinated with the immediacy of abstract artists such as Clifford Still, Robert Motherwell and the temperament and energy of Van Gogh and Pollock that goes into their work. Other more contemporary artists that I find interesting are Katherine Grosse, Bill Sampson, and James Robinson, Dale frank, Tony Tuckson, and Judy Watson.

I am of Maori descent which means I cannot help but identify with a spiritual connection to nature, and its creation. I explore the analogies in abstract imagery of the Maori concept of 'IO' ( the Great Nothing and the Great Everything that means that from nothing comes everything) within my work. The creative acts of IO: that is, Te Korekore( of potential being), Te Po (the world of becoming)and Te O Marama( the world of being), and more, all co-exist within each organism, each one having a relationship with the other. Color and form in my paintings to the first and last mark all have similar relationships,