Artist Statement
The overarching theme of Fergus Channon’s practice explores the rhythms of the inevitable passing of time where he observes and responds to the often-overlooked incremental changes of the everyday. This is resolved in a multitude of approaches where certain parameters are introduced to each body of work that offer different aesthetic and material results.
His interest in process-led painting allows him to discover new techniques that in turn determine the aesthetic of the image. He strives to push his understanding of what painting is and what it can be as well as exploring within painting. This manifests in sustained activities such as drawing each morning, generating paintings in series of situations that subtly change or by elevating domestic chores as rituals.
In asking what painting can be and how he can push this he is currently manipulating the traditions of painting through the innovative application of distemper to canvas. He has discovered a method of tightening the surface of the canvas to such an extent that he can control his paintings to either change and evolve over time or be affected by interventions that reveal the indexical mark evoking a sense that the artist is present.