In my last post I was excited to return to the studio to play with paint and canvas having recently visited the gallery of Edaurd Micus in Ibiza.
So its happening – a response to his work. I fumble with my intentions and processes – how to remain true to myself whilst allowing myself to be affected by Micus’ work.
I often feel chameleon-like as a multi-disciplinarian artist – so open to suggestion I find it hard to know where I stand creatively.
Being objective then what is it about his work that affects me?
An ability – working on any scale – to create beautiful and serene work that is cut with a fine tension through his layering of fabric fragments. These fragments are distorted across his canvasses using monotone all over- coverage of paints – whites and greys. A quiet pulling, undoing, unraveling of threads takes place, sealed and controlled by the paint.
These fragments whilst held down by layers of paint are not restricted to the confines of the canvasses edge and attempt to slide away adding unexpected planes and dimensions to the rectangular format of the canvas. There is in this sense a release; movement.
Looking at his work at the end of my holiday with close friends encapsulated many of our conversations and provoked me to make work which referenced feelings of containment and freedom, happiness and regret.
The resulting experience has been liberating (in contrast to much of my recent work which has been about revisiting and holding onto the past).
I stuck to one my working processes – the outlining of the subject with a single charcoal line; in this case the subject was my own body.
Beyond this I allowed a freedom of response. I considered the addition of layers of fabric and dug out a range of things I have been collecting and storing in the studio – as we do. Paper and fabric that I just couldn’t part with as well as functional cleaning and packing materials have found new purpose.
Without intention the fragments began to take on bodily properties as I used them to in-fill the outlines of the three figures which lay side by side. I worked with this – organs, tendons and bones appeared in bubble wrap, faded paper and strips of Jay cloth. The sense of experiencing life in physical and emotional terms through the body became a strong theme. So did the inter-linking of the three figures – the connectedness we have with other women.
I attempted to white-wash the textures concealing surface detail and colour to a great extent – but leaving ‘clues’ as to the materials below and their associations. This concealment felt like a form of control, a hemming in, a covering over – all of which have familiar emotional equivalents for myself and many other women.
I have a second canvas ready to go – outlines made and keen to receive texture and new meaning.
