Symbolic Meaning: Notions of Continual Change

Steve Roberts - 'Perpetual Dance No.7' - Indian ink on watercolour paper

Metaphor, allegories and symbols are everywhere in our culture. They appear in film, television, books and the visual arts. We often take these symbols for granted, there meaning obscured or washing over us, active on a subconscious level but not in our immediate awareness. These symbols act as a kind of shorthand for those massive, amorphous ideas like love, death, eternity. They act as succinct way of pointing at these ideas without any unnecessary clutter. Over the course of 2025, I have been working on creating a major body of new work in response to the exhibition title ‘Stillness & Storm’. My interpretation of the title is that the words ‘stillness’ and ‘storm’ are not opposites but points on a continuum, a process of change without defined boundaries. I became fascinated with notions of continual change in both our internal world and the world outside of ourselves, the two intimately linked.

As this topic is so vast and multi-faceted, using symbols seemed to me the best way to tackle these ideas. My intention was never to spoon-feed an audience ideas or an agenda but to present artworks which meditate on the continuum of change and how it incorporates other topics such as the relationship between order and chaos. I began a period of reading around many different topics which found there way into much of the work. Flowing Water Water is referenced through the creation of a series of three sculpted forms titled ‘Flow’. These sculptures take forms reminiscent of a flowing river or stream. Inspired in equal parts by the hydrological cycle as a metaphor for states of continual change and the Taoist principle of ‘Wu wei’ which translates to ‘effortless action’ or ‘non-doing’. ‘Wu wei’ is a principle of Taoism which teaches the importance of working with rather than against nature by taking an approach to life that is fluid, not trying to force outcomes but instead adapting to the inevitable changes encountered within our environment.

Steve Roberts - 'Flow No.1' - Modelling putty, sand and acrylic on oak base

The Colour White White is a colour associated with surrender, purity and emptiness. Due to these connections, I wanted to use white as a colour throughout the exhibition to link multiple series of work, both visually and conceptually. In this context, the colour white conveys an empty, meditative-like state that is open to experience without judgement. White is simultaneously empty yet full as it contains all the colours we see in the visible spectrum of light. White reflects the environment surrounding it more obviously than any other colour which again serves as a useful metaphor for the perceptions of the external environment reflecting our internal world and vice versa.

Steve Roberts - 'Into Stillness No.5' - Oil, sand and wood on panel

Sands of Time Sand appears embedded into many of the forms appearing in the exhibition, not only for its interesting textural qualities but also as a link to the metaphor of the water cycle to describe a process of continual change, a reference to the passing of time. Sand is rock that has been eroded over the course of millions of years. Its very existence depends upon huge periods of time passing. Sand speaks of impermanence, with each change of wind direction blowing the grains and changing the form forever. Sand consists of separate grains, as if each individual grain represents an individual sense of self that is changed by the greater forces that push and pull our lives in different directions.

Steve Roberts - 'Presence No.4' - Air-dry clay and sand

The Vessel of Potential Vessels appear throughout art history and have been used to signify fertility, power and control, preservation and transformation among many other interpretations. The meaning of vessels is multi-layered and varies depending on time and cultural differences which is often context specific. In the case of this exhibition, the vessel spoke to me as an object that was both empty in its physical form but had the potential to be full in the mind of those who gaze upon it. In this way, the vessel serves as an object of meditation on ideas about our frame of reference and perception of our environment. In a series of small still life paintings titled ‘Emptiness is Form’, I repeatedly painted a small white vessel contained within a white space. The purpose of making these paintings was for the process to act as a meditation on looking and responding without judgement. When slowing down to paint this seemingly simple subject, what was revealed was a world of complexity as the white colour began to change with my thoughts about what colours may lie within it. The paintings are the result of painting in this present state of awareness, a meditation on the infinite potential that lies within the surface level appearance of the seemingly finite.

Steve Roberts - 'Emptiness is Form No.5' - Oil and sand on panel

The Circle of Completion The circle was an appropriate format for a series of abstract paintings titled ‘Into the Storm’. The circle appears to be the same when it rotates and this relates to the cyclical nature of all processes. I do not believe ‘stillness’ and ‘storm’ are separate but part of a continuum fluctuating between gradual and rapid change. Besides its visually beautiful shape, the circles lack of orientation means that my abstract paintings with highly saturated clashing colours, wild brushwork and impasto texture appear chaotic and disordered within the perfection of the form they are painted on. This juxtaposition seemed to enhance the paintings providing a tension between the order and chaos which occupies the same space.

Steve Roberts - 'Into the Storm No.10' - Oil and sand on panel

These symbols and metaphors serve as succinct ways to convey complex meaning. These are just my own interpretations and I do not wish to give a definitive view of what my art does and does not mean, merely a rationale of my reasons for making it. The beauty of art is that there are no definitive answers, the value in the work lies in its ambiguity, in the intermediary place between the perspective of the maker and the viewer who experiences the object. You can see this latest body of work at the 'Stillness & Storm' exhibition from 15th - 28th October, 2025. Stillness & Storm 15th - 28th October, 2025 Spring Gallery, Cheltenham Spring Cheltenham 14 Rotunda Terrace Montpellier Street Cheltenham GL50 1SW Spring Website