'I am interested in making work informed by my interest in esoteric systems, codes, signs and symbols – from the magical symbolism of alchemy to the pixels and binary codes of our digital world.'
Alfons Bytautas RSA is a renowned Scottish artist based in Newcastle whose abstract paintings, drawings and prints centre on chance interplays and the abstraction of natural forms.
'I am interested in making work informed by my interest in esoteric systems, codes, signs and symbols – from the magical symbolism of alchemy to the pixels and binary codes of our digital world. These mysterious or specialised systems were designed to process verbal and visual information and require a “key” of some kind to allow access. Although they may not have been designed to be aesthetically pleasing, they often have an innate beauty. I don’t think of the images I make as being either abstact or figurative. Geometrical figures are mostly perceived as being “abstract” in art and there is certainly an underlying geometrical system in a lot of these works – a simple grid. This pattern of crossed vertical and horizontal lines is often merely implied and might appear in my work, not through a predetermined system or process but unconsciously. Making a grid structure is, after all, a simple and elegant way of imposing order.'
