‘Life begins on the other side of despair.’ ~ Jean-Paul Sartre
The Dub Spectrum Project began with the deceptively straightforward dream of an anonymous artist who wanted to quietly eke out a living as a painter. His work started out in an expressionist vein inspired by artists including Kandinsky, Klimt, Klee and Van Gogh (among others). He later found himself writing brief works of prose that he initially incorporated into painting. This coincided with developing a keen interest in landscapes with a particular fondness for ancient Chinese painters, such as Ma Yuan and Guo Xi, and the mysterious quality of form and emptiness in their work. He continues to be drawn to the idea of re-enchantment in art and has recently got into landscape photography with a particular affinity for the woodland areas of his native Dartmoor (to him, trees embody nature’s poetic expression!).
Conversely, much of his writing orientates from feelings of disillusionment and despair (amid a general underground sensibility). He finds it curious that his visual art and writing seem to go in opposite directions: while his painting veers towards notions of the sublime and a sense of mystery, his writing generally embodies a gonzo jaunt into the messiness and dread of everyday life – almost as if different creative avenues access different parts of the soul. He’s long given up trying to understand why he works in this way, instead focusing on developing the two in tandem, and feels there is an emerging interconnection between the idea of art as resistance by way of re-enchantment.
Extracts from his debut novel Adrift in Amnesia can be found here. Extracts from his first book of poetry The Cycle Diaries can be found here. The DS Project has evolved over the years through a DIY ethos – possessing some similarities in outlook with English romanticism and what the Japanese refer to as Yutori (‘space’) – spanning photography, fiction, poetry, short stories, film, painting, travels and DJ sets. At the heart of it is Percival Alexander: a reclusive alter ego sceptical of modernity while seeking a creative frontier at the antipodes of the mind.
truth is vibe.
December 2024
unityofkana(at)gmail(dot)com