Much of the work I create is borne from introspective thought-processes related to personal observations and over-saturated media and pop-culture influences. It centres largely around a creative, reactionary reflex to social issues and the juxtaposition of the natural world in contrast to our man-made, constructed environment.

Working through several means of artistic expression, such as photography, painting, mixed-media, video and design, I disseminate information while choosing the appropriate manner of communicating an idea. With photography I find I can say the most and with the clearest voice. Decades of technical experience has given me a new level of creative control with the camera. For me, photography transcends materialistic presentation and heads straight to the image ’Äì a shortcut to depiction which is often all I mean to achieve. A painting carries with it a brooding, contemplative battle of pigment strokes, scrapes, smudges, washes, mood swings and fluctuating temperaments with lengthy sessions of layering and selective removal to fulfil my ideal result. Both painting and photography are necessary means of expression which come from different places in me.

Time and place are recurring themes in my work. City-planning, utilitarian architecture and aesthetics are subjects under current exploration. I am interested in what we do with our living spaces, the items we accumulate, the affected environmental settings we choose to nurture and the changes which occur over time.

Derek von Essen, 2008

Copyright 2008 Derek von Essen