Clair Graubner

Urban architecture surrounds us. It's presence is there from the moment I walk out of my
front door, seeking a way into my work. An artist's surroundings are always an influence
of some kind whether obvious or not, and living here in the metropolis of Manchester,
walking around it's maze of towering structures and overlapping planes, I'm pleasantly
subjected to a constant visual bombardment of geometric forms.

I'm drawn to the aesthetic pattern present in architecture, to it's repetitive nature, and
it's decorative anatomy. I try to strike a balance between painting a representational
image and abstraction in order to provide the viewer with enough information to understand
what's being seen, whilst allowing them to appreciate the physical elements in a more
formalist way on the canvas.

There is an almost Utopian feel to the paintings, whose colours instil warmth and positivity
to the viewer despite what some might consider a bleak concrete subject. There is beauty to
be had in the brutalism; beauty in the strength of form and weight, structure and presence,
which I endeavour to present in the paint.