Abstract painter Patrick Alston’s practice focuses on gesture and materiality, through oil, acrylic, spray paint, raisin, canvas, fabric, and plastic. Through abstraction, his work reflects on socio-politics, identity, language, and the psychology of colour. His re-contextualized subjects, and rich and complex compositions are expressed through gestural mark making and the combination of various materials. In his work, he draws on the relation between image and language. The selection of his titles plays a crucial role within the artist’s process. Comparing the abstraction of painting to Black English Vernacular as a form of language abstraction, he investigates different forms of language, understanding, and perception. His visual language relates to painting, traditional New York graffiti culture, interwoven materials, and fabrics, and generates a medium to project the unwritten aesthetic of the deconstructed landscape. He is influenced by Raymond Saunders, among others. He facilitates an intersection of various layers and different textures, informing tension and balance in his work, often through grids and squares.