Michael Craik’s practice explores the interplay of color and repetition as a method of producing quiet, contemplative work that is concerned with color, quality of materials and process. Craik creates paintings by repeatedly applying paint and removing it again. This process of reduction appears throughout his work, alluding to the forces of erosion that shape our landscape. He allows the elemental qualities of paint to determine the appearance of each work, creating contemplative and minimal paintings.

The focus of these works is often at the edges, where sanding reveals layers of paint, exposing alternating layers of color that have been built up by painting, pouring or spreading. In this sense, his work shares a relationship with geology, with the placement and erosion of rock. Living in Scotland, one is constantly reminded of the forces that sculpt the earth. Craik’s studio in Kinghorn, Fife, is on a cliff overlooking the Firth of Forth. Surrounded by this expanse of water and the endless ebb and flow of the tide, Craik is aware that these processes have, over time, permeated his artistic practice.