Have you always considered yourself as a fine artist?
I really think I have, but like many creative people, I assumed that this wasn't going to be a workable way of living , so I worked as a Graphic Designer, and then had a brief run-in with the world of advertising. I say run-in, because I wasn't for it, and it wasn't for me, and by that I mean the culture that surrounds it. That said, tiny elements from both disciplines still inform my art practice, perhaps not always at a detectable level. I realise now that I was meant to be a 'one man band' when it comes to my creativity, it's the only way it doesn't feel compromised.

Describe your paintings in 15 words:
Layered atmospheres, at biting point of abstraction, echoing a journey between the internal and external.

Your work continually moves in theme and direction - what's the current theme?
More of a gentle ebb and flow rather than wild swings of direction, but regular themes of emergence and disappearance are present. Also fate, control and surrender of control, and location through accident of birth, are all themes currently circling my pictures.

What process do you go through to create your paintings?
Constant experimentation is key to my practice. I think that paint can be approached in quite formulaic ways, but I like to push it's possibilities in application, obviously with originality as my goal. The experimentation within the process will usually suggest a mood or way of working, and then begins something of a tussle with the paint until I create something I don't mind the rest of the world seeing. I am really staging a series of controlled experiments with the paint, editing the results by layering further paint on determined areas.

How do you explore form through the use of texture?
The paintings usually exist somewhere between the abstract and figurative traditions and as part of that there is really a to and fro between the surface and it's status as object, and any detectable form displayed on it. I work with the canvases flat for much of the time, as a result of this interesting 'imperfections' and lumps in the paint will appear and are often left. This is a necessary relinquishing of control to the painting, pleasingly tempering any overt narrative overtones. It's elements such as these moments of relief that tip the balance briefly towards the objectification of the surface and the world of purer abstraction.

What work will you be exhibiting at Future Form?
I have one relatively large piece, a painting, "I Don't Exist When You Don't See Me". The title can deliberately be taken in a number of ways, I've always been attracted to ambiguity in art. I like to think that the job of my paintings is to stimulate the imagination, I don't personally want art to tie up too many loose ends or there's nothing left for the viewer to do but to leave the room.

See more of Jonathon's work in his jotta portfolio