Michael Craik is an Edinburgh-based artist whose practice explores the interplay of colour and repetition as a method of producing quiet, contemplative work concerned with colour, material quality and process. Craik studied Fine Art at Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen before completing an MA in European Fine Art in Barcelona. Drawing influence from a history of Color Field painting and concrete art, Craik’s practice explores the interplay of color and repetition as a method of producing quiet, contemplative work concerned with color, form, material quality and process. Craik creates paintings by repeatedly applying paint and removing it again. This process of reduction is highlighted in his work, alluding to forces of erosion that form our landscape. The artist allows the elemental qualities of the paint to determine the appearance of each work, creating contemplative, minimal paintings. With his work, the focus lies on the edges, where sanding reveals strata of paint, exposing layers of alternating color that have been built up by brushing, pouring or spreading. In this sense, Craik’s work shares a relationship with geology, to the laying down and erosion of rock. Living in Scotland, one is constantly reminded of the forces that sculpt the land. His studio in Kinghorn, Fife stands, stands on a cliff overlooking the River Forth estuary. Surrounded by this expanse of water Craik observes the endless ebb and flow of the tide, and is aware that the need to represent the passage of time has permeated his practice through this connection.