James Cosgrove RSW RGI PAI

My work explores creative processes such as mark making and text in relation to the potential for an expanded narrative. Sometimes I draw ‘blind‘ in order to explore energies in abstract marks – nearer the mind than the eye – or as a device on which to build more formal statements.

I use the idea of creating disparate imagery to construct spontaneous or improvised pictorial circumstances. Dreamlike tableaux, half recalled experiences, childhood memories are among the many touchstones in my practice as an artist. Making such works is often triggered by reading and listening to music. From writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Margaret Atwood to Raymond Carver and BobDylan to music by Benjamin Britten, Radiohead and Portishead – or sparked by the work of artists from Giotto to Rose Wylie.

I usually work in series but seldom start out with a particular picture in mind, preferring to put something random down and adding to it, usually from one of my notebooks, to see what happens through the process of juxtaposition – often in a random manner until a theme or purpose evolves or changes direction. The gestural process involved in using the fluidity and viscosity of paint or drawing using various implements is, in itself, a source for pictorial invention.