I realise that I am building on the work I have produced over the past two years. To someone looking in it might appear that I have strayed far from a single path but when I step back and reflect on the different themes and ideas running throughout I see that I am drawn to explore the human form and how it can be portrayed.
In my Eqyptian work I “wrapped” a form in brown paper.
This was part of the final work I displayed at the end of my first year in an exhibition called Twenty-Thirteen.
Kathryn Raffell, 2012-2013, Untitled, Cardboard and paper, 150cmx40cmx30cm
In my research I also found that the Egyptians used a symbol of an eye. It was called The Eye of Horus and was a symbol to them of protection and royal power.
Eye of Horus image obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Horus
This fascination with the human eye and its images led me to experiment further and make a short video.
I wanted to show how material can be used to form representations of other things and it formed the base to progress my painting practice
This moved to investigate human eyes, which are one of the most important organs and symbols.
Kathryn Raffell, 2014, Untitled, Acrylic on oval canvas, 25cmx20cm.
This piece was made to question if, by just detailing eyes into an oval it could/would represent form and function as a masked face. It was one of a pair (the other was a smaller pair of eyes behind a crimson oval).
These two pieces were shown last year in the Crypt Gallery London as part of our Universities Contemporary British Painting exhibition.
And finally this year I have pushed forward towards representing pattern and form, wrapping and covering of the human form within the medium of painting.
Within this I continued with exploring and made three small portrait paintings which I placed behind painted canvases and cut them to reveal parts of the faces.
Kathryn Raffell, 2014, Three untitled pieces, Acrylic on Canvas, 10cmx20cm.
