Sumpter

"These paintings explore a shifting inner world of unnameable familiarity. Through accumulation of paint a direct physical interaction is exposed, between body and canvas, from the slightest stain to violent application. The visceral, physical qualities of body matter are appropriated through paint as substance.

A repeated expulsion of paint fuses layers together into a monstrous hybrid. These forms lure the viewer in through delicate detail. What first appears delicately beautiful is exposed as dirty and stained, whilst the defacing, globular, oozing substances form a seductive jewel-like quality within the paint. As the surface is infected, disgust and seduction are intertwined through a revelling in squeamishness.

The paintings attempt to grow beyond the confines of the canvas and begin move from an illusionistic space into a physical presence. This dissolving of boundaries between inside and outside, between form and ground embraces the abject and erodes distinct definition. Through a subsidence between desire and disgust, the paintings resemble a fairy tale growing rotten."