Mick Flaherty

My practice is process-driven, and involves allowing materials to dictate the direction of the work. I don't set out to create the images that eventually arise, but instead respond to forms and shapes that begin to appear within the various layers.

The process is influenced by the ideas of Surrealism in regard to attempting to remove the rational, conscious decision-making part of the mind as much as possible in the making stage, while also playing with the phenomenon of pareidolia. As such, the pieces act as a dialogue between the personal unconscious and the conscious self in a form of Rorschach test.

The titles are often given in hindsight after deciphering what has been put down onto canvas or paper in a form of self-psychoanalysis.