Contemporary romantic expressionism: the virtual and psychological through painting

In my painting practice I am conveying human psychology that has been subverted through living in the digital age, how the digital age feels and the emotional consequences it has on people. I depict figures exploring nature through an artificial filter that is expressive, lucid and semi-representational. This allows paint to communicate a sensory and evocative experience; of how living through the virtual age feels. This thesis explores my realised painting codes: firstly, experimenting with and harnessing spray paint to communicate a sense of the virtual, and secondly, how painterly expressionism communicates human emotion and leaves the marks made from the memory of the artist. I analyse the networks these processes and my imageries are connected to within the art world and pop culture, and how these influence my artworks. The current theme in my practice is creating an artificial-feeling filter over settings of romanticised scenes, often figures in nature. There is a strong art history of conveying togetherness, loneliness, and our relationship with nature, through Romanticism and the Sublime. These are emotions and themes that have been severely affected in the contemporary world and I wish to tackle them in my art.