Made from 776 individually painted oil paintings, The Philosopher reflects on the idea of painting as a practice, a habit, and a meditation

The Philosopher is made from 776 individually painted portraits. Of the 776 paintings that comprise the ‘animated painting’ only five physical oil on board panels remain as a kind of ‘residue’ of the work that has taken place. All other paintings now exist solely in the ephemeral space of projected light. Combining the traditional arts practice of oil painting with newer technologies, analogue with digital, I am able to generate multiple outcomes. Using old school stop-motion animation techniques my intimate, handcrafted films explore themes of self-making and the experience of being human. In a world increasingly wedded to slick digital techniques The Philosopher extravagantly foregrounds the hand made, celebrating painting as a dedicated practice, a private, conscious meditation of ritual or habit.