“With a strong desire to expand and to work expressively – with larger brushes and on a greater scale – in the summer of 2022 I began this new series. I’ve been collecting antique nautical maps and rolls of part-used vintage canvas, pasting these to various kinds of board, sometimes collaging book covers and other miscellaneous cardboard items on top. I apply plaster to some, fill, sand and gesso others.”

“Each describes closeup, abstracted wave formations – without sky or land – at different times of day or night. The image of sea surface can be infinitely abstracted. Here, reflected light is the protagonist. Suggestive of sustainable practices, their titles are an appeal to slow and to reflect.”

“Light on Water leads on directly from Rising Horizon, which charted an ever-increasing horizon-line from the bottom to the top of the canvas, providing commentary on the issue of sea rise. The series opened with big skies and closed with paintings of mostly sea surface, their horizons well over head height. This exhibition continues the theme, with the main body of abstract paintings fully covered and without sky. Just like Rising Horizon, there is a progressive quality to this new series, an exploration of proportionality. In some cases, the light represents sunlight, in other cases it could be sea ice, battling against dark water beneath.”

“Somehow [Light on Water] manages to be both an in-depth reflection on surfaces of water (if that is not an inherent contradiction) and to embody deep concerns with climate change. In a sense, these works are abstract. They don’t depict particular stretches of water, but are concerned with colours and moods; water is the language of the work as much as the subject. The hang places the paintings at different levels, creating the sense of the work as the sum of its parts as well as inviting us to look at individual components … Cass approaches his subject with such energy and engagement that it’s rarely dull, and manages to spark reflection on climate change without allowing [Light on Water] to feel heavy-handed or overly didactic.”

“For David Cass, the sea offers an endless source of wonder at its depths, history, bounty, and sometimes ferocity ... the artist has long been fascinated by the power of water, especially its increasing vulnerability to the effects of the climate crisis. In Light on Water, the artist continues to address the warming and rapid rising of ocean levels around the world through paintings that hover between abstraction and representation. Cass draws attention to estimates that 91 percent of Earth’s excess heat energy trapped in the climate system is stored by our oceans. As the planet continues to warm, this storage capability disappears, threatening all manner of life...”