The conceptualisation of my practice towards the end of the '90s changed how I approached my central concern, painting. Nothing & the Quandary of Painting included a visual notebook exploring the nature of thinking about painting. My work became more research-based and explored how context shapes meaning.

Created at a time when my ideas about art were in flux, no-thing, not being, and nothingness were ideas around identity, value and relevance I needed to explore, to make art nothing so that I could rebuild my ideas about what was or was not art, this included ideas about myself as an artist.

The work became a commentary on identity politics and branding. I realised that anything could be art, including found objects and my identity. I embraced the idea of the expanded field and a multidisciplinary approach to making art. I had to test the boundaries. This work opened the door to all my subsequent work, thoughts and projects.

In 1998, I held a Studio Sale of all my work to date, I catalogued, listed, priced and labelled everything from sketches and notebooks to large completed paintings. In 1999, I created an unbound visual book The Quandary of Painting-A Practical Handbook for the Making of Artworks, with four chapters: 1. Representation?; 2. The Grid (Failed Representation?); 3. History Possibility? and 4. Nothing. It consisted mainly of drawings in the form of notes, photographs, photocopies and collaged postcards. This work explored ideas for the making of artworks; some were realised, some were not, and some are still being realised.