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current oils |
Gregor's oil paintings explore our sense of ourselves as part of an holistic universe where life, whether it be the smallest cells, or the largest communities of people, is continuous and interconnected. |
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current oils |
Gregor's oil paintings explore our sense of ourselves as part of an holistic universe where life, whether it be the smallest cells, or the largest communities of people, is continuous and interconnected. |
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Gregor's oil paintings present a world in which personal identity is unimportant, where individuals are absorbed into an unending whole that surrounds and engulfs them; a world where the behaviour of individuals is driven by the ebb and flow of events beyond their control; where life becomes a continuum, a nexus of collective consciousness.
This vision of life as a continuous entity, woven into the fabric of our universe, gives his oil paintings a biological, visceral quality that brings to mind images of molecules, cellular or neurological structures. Some viewers see in them astronomical systems, or even the dense abstract patterns of stained glass windows. The number of readings that can be given to these paintings is broad, and the way we see them says as much about ourselves, the viewers, as it does the paintings themselves. But at some basic level we connect with them, and they draw out our instinctive memories of the primal horde.
As a biological entity, our human existence can be seen as an apocalyptic infestation, consuming and infecting everything in its path. But it can also be seen as a remarkable collective where countless individuals work together, caring for one another and striving for a better future, where the whole is infinitely more powerful that the sum of the parts and self interest takes second place to the greater good.
The technique used to create these paintings is a balance between control and accident. On the one hand, the subject matter and overall composition is predetermined and remains the same from one painting to the next. On the other, the possible variety of compositions is limitless and Gregor goes out of his way to disrupt any emerging structure or repetition, opting for gestural blots and splashes, and loose washes of contrasting colours rather than allowing order to appear or any sense of resolution to emerge. This makes the paintings feel like living, evolving organisms rather than simply images constructed by an artist.
Gregor's flirtation with chance brings with it a risk of failure. It is a precarious device for breaking order, but a necessary intervention, creating the uncertainty that keeps the work alive.
The paintings are composed without focus. They do not provide places for the eye or the mind to rest. Indeed the subject seems to extend beyond the limits of the painting, which appears to be just a framed section of a much bigger, perhaps endless whole.
There seems to be a sense of illusion within these paintings as their composition and colours change each time the viewer looks at them and areas of the painting lighten or darken under different conditions.
he paintings have tremendous depth and luminance. Progressive, built-up layers become increasingly fluid and transparent as the painting evolves, moving from dense and opaque webs of paint to loose free-flowing washes. The transparency of the upper layers gives the impression of the biological membranes of living organisms; layered and corporeal and continuing on to depths below the surface. This also makes us feel that the painting has somehow been exposed and is in the process of decaying.
Gregor paints with optically-luxuriant colours; pure reds, blues and yellows; layered to give infinite variation. His deep blood reds, cold pale blues, organic, luminous yellows and vivid oranges are applied in such dense combinations that the paintings seem at the same time to contain every colour and yet to be almost monochromatic.
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