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 intuitively, 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 I’m trying to take a molecule from whatever makes art pop, putting it under a microscope, and seeing what I see at 1000x.”

MOONBASE’s use of saturated coloring is remnant from his days in intaglio printmaking, where the application of dense and vibrant inks would often build up highly richly-opaque tones within compositions. Reframed for a different medium, the consistent layering of a “secret” enamel paint he uses adds an additional dimensionality to every work; a tactile nature he ensures ‘is deeply embedded in the work’. The combination of whimsy, form, and eye-popping color create an immersive play the eyes, never shy to highlight places for them to land safely amid the chaos.