Coming back to the question WHY I paint faces/people, and does there have to be a WHY? Well,Yes, I believe there does. Artist’s are led by influences that motivate them to paint what they paint. Sometimes a bit of digging in the unconcious mind is necessary. My need to paint faces/people is trying to ‘understand’ my relationship with the people in my life.Trying to understand WHY over the three years I have been so compelled to paint faces has been my biggest struggle. However, when I looked at all my work over the last three years, I came to the realisation that not only has all my work been about faces, but about my relationship with men in my life. From my son, brother, lover, father to my now partner, they have all been about my relationship with them and how I perceive them to be. My paintings are close-up and intense and are of ‘men’ who have a had a huge effect in my life.
Trying to understand WHY over the three years at uni I have been drawn to painting portraits. Its been my biggest hurdle trying to understand my own compulsion to keep painting faces. Does there have to be WHY? WHY NOT? There is a sense of unease with portraiture in contemporary art. I even read a piece online recently written in the Guardian a few years ago by art critic Micheal Archer who said that portraiture makes him ‘snort with derision’. Harsh words!! He went on to say that a portrait has never been more pointless as more photographic images of individuals are accessible. I believe he is missing the whole point. What distinguishes painting from photography as a record of recognition is the artist’s personal choice of notation of their observation-and the arrangement of the mark making with which they record it. Contemporary portraiture is quirkier and more idiosyncratic than portraits of the past. I suppose in a sense I am aware that portraiture isnt seen as relevant in contemporary painting or compared with other mediums such as sculpture and instillations. This has influenced me in a negative way, affecting my confidence in my work.
I have been looking artists such as James Wyeth, Jenny Saville, Francoise Neilly and Luca Palizzi.
I have been working on several paintings. Working at home has been working for me recently as all the time at uni has been taken up with the degree auction. Now that is finished, time to start work in the studio. The paintings I have been working on are more figuritve, and what has suprised me is that instictively I have avoided painting any faces. I hadnt intended not to include faces, but just worked on compositions I liked. It was only when I put them together I realised that not one face is visable.All paintings are works in progress….
The painting of my father was a labour of love, in that it was a painting that was difficult but I was determined to finish. It is a painting with a lot of anquish in it, as it was uncertain at the time of painting whether my dad would survive the surgery he had gone through….at the time of painting I can only describe him as having an aura that was quite amazing. It was between acceptance,fight and weariness. In this painting the paint has been applied thickly and I am still interested in the application of the paint and interested in how Frank Auerberach applies his paint. My dad is on a road to recovery now. As Lucian Freud said ‘I think a great portrait has to do with the way it is approached…it is to do with the intensity of the regard and the focus of the specific. I need to produce a lot more work, now that the degree auction is finished. Ive reached the point where I am wondering where my work is going.I seem to spend my last three years feeling stuck at times, having a panic, them moving forwards.
