Appearing as abstractions, this new series of paintings by Ash Keating can also be viewed as literal landscapes, reminiscent of satellite section maps that overview a privileged perspective with an aerial vantage. Keating applies a type of topological mixing as a process-based technique, one that engages with chaos theory to reveal systematic patterns in nature.
His layered application of earthen paints, pressure sprays and graffiti repellent combine to link his established environmental practice with his recent urban interventions. While continuing the performative process, the bulk of Keating’s ‘action’ here has already taken place in the studio, where the mixing of gloss paints, slipping and shifting across the polished surface of marine ply, build up and run off in ways that emulate the patterning process of natural systems.
In this way, Keating is performing the act of painting as landscape.
