Form & Substance

and while there I lost my passport. Due to a series of strange administrative errors that delayed my temporary passport, I stayed for a further four months.’

As the artist describes it, rather than becoming frustrated, he embraced the experience and began envisioning a move there to build a studio. But a month before moving, a chance conversation with a friend brought Sri Lanka, a country he had visited for a meditation retreat, back into his awareness.

This eventually led him to the fishing village of Nilwella, with which he felt an immediate connection. While walking past a small monastery, he noticed a house hidden beneath the shade of a large Bodhi Tree. For Gordon, it was a sign. He took the house and within weeks had stripped it down to its bare bones, painted the walls white and brought a mattress to sleep in. He lived in the space like that for a month to study the natural rhythms of his surroundings, making plans for the house and studio’s design that would be in harmony with the sun, the ocean on his doorstep and the local community.

The resulting space and work encompass the sum of those formative experiences. Aleph Geddis, Alby Guillaume (aka Remed), Celeste Young and Caledonia Curry (aka Swoon) are some of the overseas creatives who have taken up residency since Gordon opened up his studio. He also holds great respect for local artisans, who uphold age-old crafts that he has sought to incorporate throughout his space.

Text Rossella E Frigerio