The art of holding eels

October 2026

The art of holding eels

The art of holding eels

Oil, gold leaf and pigment on linen

1000 x 800mm

Rothko Symposium 2026
Rothko Symposium
Rothko Symposium 2026

In my practice, figuration and abstraction work together; forms appear and dissolve, inhabiting a space of ambiguity and slippage. Painting becomes a space where what we see and what we feel stay in motion, constantly responding to each other.

Coming to Latvia for the 2026 Rothko Symposium has been a bit like coming home, although it is a home I know through heritage rather than residence. There is something strangely familiar in the buildings, landscape and even the faces here, as if they echo images and fragments of a place that has always existed somewhere in my imagination. It feels a little like stepping into a faded family photograph, where things are recognisable but slightly out of reach. Into this environment of the past, I’ve brought my present domestic world: a series of works considering a child moving into adolescence.

References, sketches and drawings are put down, washed over and redrawn. Through accumulation and destruction, multiple versions of the figure emerge. What remains is not a fixed image, but a narrative of movement, change and becoming.