Jon Cattapan

Jon Cattapan takes photographs himself or images from the media, "these are worked, rearranged and layered until something approaching a compositional structure is arrived at....he is always on the lookout for the fortuitous accident." I love the multi-layers of his works and the effect of the monotypes. The layered abstract paint dripped background and communication lines and dots with the objective pictorial outline drawing monotype print over the top. He also explored Night Vision technology as an artistic tool to create an interesting effect. Other lines and dots used add to the layers in his work representing data, graphs, maps, surveillance, computer codes and radar lines.

"The paintings are dripping (sometimes literally) with markers of coded data and are filled with streams of dots, hazy graphs, and luminescent green lines that call to mind radar screens and early monochrome computer monitors... The world present here is one dominated by information networks." ("Data-scapes", Eye-line, Kylie Weise)

I love his cityscapes and how they look completely abstract until you notice the structure of the monotype city. The layering technique creates the image of city at night, which "evokes the global networks of communication, energy and power of which the city is apart" Data-scapes

'Night Figures', 2009, Oil on Belgian Linen, 185 cm x 250 cm

‘Continuing Underground II’, 2006-2013, Oil on Linen, 185 x170 cm,

'Red system no.3' (The third deadly system) (detail), oil on canvas, 198 x 167.5cm

'Heading out (Gleno)', 2008, oil and coloured pencil on paper