There are two lights: one is in your head; the other lights the room. I paint the first one. My paintings are lit by the light of imagination, the real light. The places I visit in my work are a product of my dreams and are also bathed in this light. It is an emotional light, which can convey a feeling, a mood or an idea. It is the light of nostalgia, of a distant memory, the light of the magical garden of childhood. An image may come to me complete – can I hold it in my head, finish the painting before it fades? I don’t like to ask too many questions, to edit or filter; if I do, I am always left with just dust in my hands, or a less interesting painting.
Jake Baddeley is one of 50 contemporary artists featured in Metamorphosis 1 (beinArt Publishing).
