It don't mean a thing

About

It dont mean a thing... no it dont, unless you want it to, and then it can mean anything you like. Things
dont have to mean anything, a piece of instrumental music is allowed to exist happily without being
interrogated about its meaning. When asked what his paintings meant Picasso replied, ‘you tell me.’ 
Its not really fair to ask a painter about an abstract work, all they have to say is on the wall. However
of course abstract paintings are not meaningless, or ‘having no importance or value’ . They mean
something but not in easily described linguistic terms.

I started painting on the reverse of failed screenprints, I had plenty of them and on decent paper too. 
Jazz seemed the perfect soundtrack. Perhaps playing what the abstract expressionists might have been
listening to would inspire me. Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Charlie Mingus, Miles Davies, 
Cannonball Adderley became my companions in the garage as I tried to control the accidents that
I was encouraging to happen in my haphazard process. All the time keeping in mind the importance
of experimentation and above all having fun. The worry that it is all rubbish comes and goes, I learnt
quickly that one must believe in what one is doing and have the self confidence to carry on.

I want these paintings to look effortless, accidental but also I want the marks to look like they could
never have been anywhere else on the paper. I want parts of them to look like they have been made
by a machine, the visually intriguing byproduct of another process. I dont want them to look pretty,
I want them to be more difficult than that. I want them to be more noticeable than that, disliked maybe 
but please not just nice.