Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Malcolm graduated with a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) from the UniSA in 1989. Since then he has established himself as a designer in the corporate sector and maintained an interest in painting with oils. Since 2003 Malcolm has developed a process of controlled paint-pouring and... Read More

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Malcolm graduated with a Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) from the UniSA in 1989. Since then he has established himself as a designer in the corporate sector and maintained an interest in painting with oils. Since 2003 Malcolm has developed a process of controlled paint-pouring and canvas manipulation utilising paint to flow and form connections between planes. The subtle blending and vivid colour properties of oils enable him to develop compositions based on nature.

Philosophy of Membrane Art:
The objective of Membrane Art is to develop non-represenational works of art that have real dimensional values including time. Applying paint in this way provides the structural basis to compose works that evoke a true sense of our natural world. Ultimately, inviting the viewer to experience colour and texture with absolute dimensional values but without the interference associated with representational form.

Overall the work is a network of built up ‘reality sticks’ entwining in multiple directions and at varying times to create a multifaceted relationship between pure colour and texture, and ultimately with the picture plane. The result is what Malcolm simply calls ‘Membrane Art’.

The Membrane Art process:
On an undulated membrane (mostly linen), Malcolm applies the vivid colour and subtle blending properties of oil paint. Allowing gravity to naturally control the movement of paint from the peaks to the troughs while the viscosity of the paint, the canvas tooth and varying degrees of the canvas’ slopes create a tangible expression of colour and texture over the space. This approach can be seen when you analyse the paint flow. As it pools, we can define the height, depth, width and time of the colour (how quickly it fell). Simultaneously a parallel dimension is created on the other side of the linen plane to complete the all encompassing process. This process may occur several times in different undulated directions. Once the oils have dried sufficiently, the membrane is opened out and mounted to a frame.