Underlying all my work is an exploration of Pareidolia, namely the cognitive propensity innate in all of us, to discern patterns and forms in chaotic experience. Cave paintings from prehistory offer many such examples. Meanwhile, in our digital era we have recourse to conspiracy theories to give narrative shape to the confusing overwhelm of the internet.

In my paintings, figures and objects are ‘discovered’ within the early layers of paint. The evolution of the composition is highly iterative, the subject matter being fully confirmed only during the latter stages of work. At that point, like a conspiracy theorist, I seek to draw (metaphorical) connections that describe circumstances in the world beyond my control.

Drawing is also a big part of my practice; in recent times my work has been selected for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (the leading open entry drawing exhibition in the western hemisphere). As with the paintings, my drawings are evolved from a fluid matrix of marks, abrasions, ink smears etc. The eventual images have an inevitable unstable absurdity that — I like to think —echos the contingent order of human affairs.

Users of Instagram may also have come across the political cartoons I post @bruce_works15.