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Research Journal

Final Work

 

Imagery used at the beginning of the year ... places I have been and the things I saw. Some of these things have worked themselves directly into the paintings, others are yet to be used.

 

Paintings from the beginning of the year...

IMG_0733_edited

These paintings have begun to gather an airtight quality which is suffocating the subject matter. It will need to paint in a more fluid manner in order to inject some kind of life into the still spaces...

'Chair View' 2015

'The Play Room' 2016

 

The painting developed very quickly form the drawings. The process of drawing has been more connected to my studio practice than ever before. The freer the drawings the faster the paintings. They are more connected that ever within the are making process.

The drawings were made in 5 mins and allowed for me to tackle the subject matter without overloading it with detail. I prefer the drawings to the final painting in the end as they are more spontaneous.

'Bit n' Bobs' 2015_edited

'Who Put That There?' (Above) Is the first painting in which I decided to Invert the painting and paint on the inside of the frame. This comes out of wanting to make the paintings seem more like objects on the one hand and to also expand the the dimensional space of the rooms I am painting.

 

GIORGIO MORANDI

Shows a quiet stillness in his paintings of humble domestic objects. Its seems as though the subject matter of the vases themselves are merely a way in which to meditate on the way in which they should be painted. The repetition of the objects means that they become background to the real business of Morandi's paintings which is to create harmony within this humble composition. By Striping the work of all the markers of high art i.e the human figure, impressive vibrant brush work, instead the viewer is forced to appreciate its modesty.

This painting, Is in some ways a response to Morandi. I wanted to see what I could do with the familiar objects I found around my house. Keeping to a muted pallet allowed me to consider how best to express the forms without overwhelming the simple composition. I do not feel like I was able to achieve depth within this painting and perhaps if I were to paint this composition again I would do it entirely from life.

'Detritus' 2015 by Kemi Onabule

 

GIOVANNI SEGANTINI

is a painter that I have only been aware of for the last year, but his work felt so familiar to me when I first saw it. He manages to combine very expressive, stylised marks with a a sharp clean palette, creating modern and fresh imagery of an ancient subject matter: the mountains.

 

Small, Large, Subject or Symbol?

The Scale of my work very much depends on the meaning of the painting. When painting on a small scale, the objets (furniture, found objects) become the subject of the work. They are the soul focus and much alike a portrait my aim in making the smaller work, is to portray the interior meaning of that singular object.

When the paintings are larger the objects within the generic rooms, become symbols rather than a portrayal of the object itself.

Because of this, The manner in which I make marks loosens up considerably because the symbol requires less detail , just by insinuating that there is a domestic space the viewers is able to use their own understanding of domesticity as colour and shape within the painting.


The small paintings are like traditional miniatures in the way that they try to convey to the viewer a personal portrait of the singular object, thereby creating a connection to this. I these works the space feels as though it has been or should be inhabited by the human figure. I think this is why i tend to paint carefully and with more realism.


The simplicity used in the larger paintings, allows for the viewer to use their understanding of the space. To me these works appear sentimental and closer to a memory of a room. I think that this is due partially to the washed out oils I have used. By layering images on top of one another, I am able to create a kind of disintegration of the scene .



'Untitled' 2016

The chairs seem to be a reoccurring theme within the paintings. they are there in place of people and by inferring a human beings presence it has more potency and creates more questions, than if the person was seated in the chair. The viewer is left thinking 'what has happened here?' And 'Who inhabited this space?'...

In future paintings I hope to lean in to this sense of absence and mystery, perhaps by populating the scenes with more furniture and the other paraphernalia of peoples daily lives.