Geburiah – original artwork by Jordan Harcourt-Hughes

2017 acrylic on canvas painting by Jordan Harcourt-Hughes. Dimensions: 91cm wide x 91cm.

About this work

Painted in hues of aqua and teal, set against a midnight blue background that mingles with pinks and sunset orange, Geburiah is a modern abstract painting by Sydney pased artist Jordan Harcourt-Hughes

Notes from the artist:

Painting abstract art means I never really have a clear picture of how a piece will turn out. It makes its own way into the world through me. I’m a very slow painter. I sit on half-finished paintings for a long time – years, in fact. Geburiah is a good example – I did the first version of the artwork in about 2006, and then created a second version on canvas a while after that. This guy’s been in my studio ever since, and it’s only after a final spurt of painting in the last year that I got the sense that he was ready to make his way out into the world.

For me, it makes sense that the painting process is slow. I think when you open yourself up to the energy of the universe, it comes to you through your subconscious, or through senses that we aren’t even fully aware of.

And that energy, that information, be it words or images or ideas or senses, takes its own sweet time to make its way into your daylight consciousness. It’s only when we can calibrate this new energy into our existing rational perception that we can talk to it, make sense of it, and share it with the world.

I’m really pleased that this artwork finally makes sense to me, that I can connect it to some of my formative life experiences and see it for what it is – a representation of my own learnings and ideas – this time on the topic of the physical body and how we listen to and perceive the universe around us.