Adriaan Doering-Dorival, the artist behind the moniker MOONBASE, is developing a visual language where color does more than just decorate; he says it speaks. In his body of work, he works to strip away the reliance on literal imagery, instead positioning color as the primary narrator of human emotional experience. As positive and negative space become amorphous, there is a tension and harmony bound uniquely within each piece. By placing color and pattern as a central abstracted medium, MOONBASE invites the viewer to experience ‘pareidolia’ narratives; the visceral immersion of each unique to each and every eye. Each palette is carefully cultured to carry emotional weight; each composition a collision between graphic precision and unfolding motion.

Rather than telling you what to feel, MOONBASE creates an atmosphere where meaning emerges intuitvely, making each viewer an active participant in decoding the narrative; tracing the artist’s movements in instinctive strokes punctuated with moments of deliberate structure. The ambiguity keeps the viewer engaged, inviting interpretation without locking it down. He states:

“…I got to the point where in my study, I wanted to look deeply at the nature of my art…like reeeeally deep. I think it’s akin to looking at the DNA of an animal, like do we know at a basic level what art looks like? Cellularly? Atomically? I think there a lot of metaphoric electricity there to harness. When im painting, it feels like im taking a molecule from what makes art pop, and blowing it all the way up.”

MOONBASE’s use of saturated coloring is remnant from his days in intaglio printmaking, where the application of certain inks often creates highly opaque, densely rich color within compositions. Reframed for a different medium, the consistent layering of the enamel used adds an additional dimension for the viewer to experience. The combination of concepts ultimately create a joyous and immersive play between highlighted gestural forms and interrupted figures to give the eye places to land safely amid the resulting chaos.