“The term “gesture” is a seductive one, suggesting a sensual affinity between aesthetic expression and the variability and subtlety of physical movement. If pressed to explain gesture, many of us would compare it to language, while perhaps qualifying the analogy by noting that gestures are more organic—and more ephemeral—than either speech or writing”. – Jane Van Slembrouck, reviewing Migrations of Gesture
Gestural Currency is a series of abstract paintings that employ gestural mark making as a medium for exchange. In this series, Darren Munce takes a hueristic approach to each work, solving problems through experimentation and evaluation. The aggregation of marks stimulates each investigation to present a combination of physical action and aesthetic result.
Through a general dissatisfaction with the incomplete, initial position, Munce employs destruction as a creative tool; embracing the uncontrolled gesture to lead the work away from the known and inspire new directions. This aggressive notion of destruction, crucial to Munce’s process, evades the artist’s habit to protect the favoured elements that often restrict a painting’s development. Munce’s carefully crafted paintings evolve through a series of gestures, shifting from the deftly controlled to the accidental. The result is a series of works that operate in strange harmony; a consolidation of disparate elements into a unified whole.