Mervyn Dawe: I like to describe the majority of my work as geometric abstraction. I am a multi-media artist who likes to experiment with chance, e.g. use of dice, etc.
As a retired Mental Health Nurse I have always had a deep interest in neurology. Research shows that the brain itself is one of the Universe’s mysteries. This fact I believe contributes to the work that I create in line, form and colour.
I have always had an interest in the big issues (the ones that make your brain hurt). In particular Neurology (do we really have free will?), Cosmology and ground breaking research in Physics, such as gravitational waves, string theory and chaos theory. All of which I have tried to understand with most of it going over my head (again making my brain hurt).
I use these baffling thoughts in ways that, I believe, become a physical expression in my art. I use multi-media tools and materials to express myself and like to experiment with chance, e.g. the use of dice, plus the use of physics to create my work. I am also fond of restricting myself to a random selection of materials, playing around to expand their possible limits. Overall I think that my work can be described as geometric abstraction, experimenting with line, form, texture and colour.
I deliberately choose not to give my work a title. This is fundamental in the interpretation of my work, in that titles will often give a manifestation of what is in the work. I strongly believe that this should be left in the eye of the observer. What meaning, effect or emotion does the work have on you? I also choose not to sign or initial my work on the picture itself, but to place it on the back of the frame, as these squiggles are not part of the visual process, i.e. they do not belong here. They are not part of the expression.
– Mervyn Dawe