Women are a central theme in my work and I strive to create images using elements of classical painterly language, with a subtle contemporary, feminist twist. I explore classical painting and portraiture for inspiration and guidance when painting my portraits.
The conventional portrait painter seeks to create a visual record of a real person, however the women in my work are not based on one sitter they are a gathering of many different influences I have collected, from other people‟s faces (both male and female), other artwork, to pure imagination. In my pictures I bring the iconic and the nameless together to create someone that has never existed. This fabrication may mean these women are more like self-portraits than portraits.
Unlike most women in classical painting and contemporary media, who are often depicted merely as objects of male desire, I wish to paint women of a powerful nature. Their arresting gaze which actively seeks connections with their viewers, asking questions perhaps they cannot answer whilst also revealing a wealth of mysterious female narratives. Through the gaze their strength is exposed, yet it is of great importance that this “strength” is not interpreted as an acquired masculine quality, but that it is seen as their own “feminine” strength that belongs to them as women in their own right. These ladies all have their own stories. They inhabit floating worlds, ambiguous environments, which enhances their strange captivating virtues.
Costume is another important aspect of my paintings. Often I adorn the women in fantastical, colourful dress that suggest a more historical context yet, by using „abstract‟ accents, I add to their indefinable qualities. Their theatrical costume allows them to become other-worldly whilst also exposing some of their private selves to the viewer.
Through my exploration of women‟s aesthetic I wish to question the nature of female gender and beauty and the viewer and society‟s relationship to the work.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen