Freud uses the term “Oceanic Feeling” to refer to the sensation of eternity and an expansive connection to the world around us.

Through his visual use of language, Graham Gillmore shows us that communication can both connect and distance at the same time. His text fragments often examine conflicting sources of knowledge: science and religion, as well as personal and universal human experiences.

In Gillmore’s new works, text is overpowered by botanical forms, some of which reference Matisse’s “Cut-Outs.” While Matisse made his forms using scissors and colourful paper, Gillmore uses an air compressor to produce unexpected shapes that are organic and botanical. Emblematic of nature and growth, these vibrant shapes disrupt the legibility of Gillmore’s text fragments, pointing to an acceptance of nature’s inevitable ascendancy over all things. A related series of new drawings explores aspects of identity and social anxiety, change and uncertainty, transformation and growth. As a whole, Oceanica delves into the complexities of psychic emotional landscapes.