The cumulous clouds in Ian Fisher’s paintings are voluminous and majestic. Intended not only as sublime representations of what clouds actually are – formations of amassed water droplets – but also, the abstract nature of the paintings themselves are an expression of the imagination and creativity their timeless subject evokes. Reflecting tumultuous weather or as the source of life-giving water, the ever-changing cloudscapes inherently hold universal meaning. Yet as a painter, it is in the possibilities for interpretation where Fisher’s interest lies; what is found in the layered mark making and the accumulated brushstrokes of the elemental and the subtle and the sometimes unpredictable color results from the act of painting itself. The cloudscape-as-creative-vehicle parallels Fisher’s previous series of figurative erasure drawings. The spare, compositions on paper explored the subject of family photographs as an exploration of memory, light and form. In keeping with the artist’s relatable themes, the cloud formations, through the artist’s hand, recall each at once the universal and the personal; the present and the past. Fisher’s cloud paintings offer the viewer their own direct sense of nature’s remarkability while demanding of the artist a pursuit of territory both subjective and nature-bound.
