Slash 2010

Slash is a large painting in oil on canvas depicting indistinct shapes that recall mutilated body parts. A straight black line dissects the image just right of centre, indicating some sort of instrument which appears to have sliced through the disembodied fleshy limb which occupies the canvas. The title of the work underlines the violence of the gesture. To the left of the image, putrid fluid flows out of one of the shapes, while what appears to be blood drips down the centre of the canvas, evoking a sense of violence and decay. The image is deliberately ambiguous; Janas has commented: ‘I’d say my intention is to intrigue, unsettle, confuse, mislead and throw red herrings. I try to avoid explaining my paintings.’ (Janas and Szymczyk 2005, p.2.)