Susanna Lisle

My paintings explore the relationship between geometric pattern and pattern in nature. Colour is central to the way in which each of my paintings evolves, and it underpins my desire to reconcile the beauty of geometry and the delight of the organic world. To me, colour evokes the playfulness, sumptuousness and delight of the natural world. Pattern leads the eye in a complex rhythm of entanglement, to a sense of endlessness or contemplation. The paintings I am making are seeking these physical sensations and metaphysical ideas. I am very interested in the decorative field in contemporary art and those artists who appropriate non-western elements. Philip Taaffe, Beatriz Milhazes and Christine Streuli are important examples. I build a framework for each painting which I have derived from my research into Islamic pattern, Moorish architecture, Euclidian geometry and mosaic. Studies in watercolour and gouache precede my oil paintings but also become works in their own right.