Mexico Mud
I am intrigued by old family photographs and have been inspired to translate them into paintings in which the characters are removed from their contexts. Research into my own family’s history and heritage has led me to take a more analytical look at how our life experiences expand or shrink our visibility as individuals and, in particular, the effects of loss. I am keen to encourage the viewer to wonder about both the subject, the removed context and the event portrayed in my paintings.
I generally use oil paint on canvas or board to convey a subtlety of tones and a degree of inherent surface texture to the whole. The compositions of my work are derived from an intention to focus the eye of the viewer on the landscape of the face or object and not on any context it may originally have had.
I have recently completed a series of still life paintings exploring the theme of ‘indirect portraiture’ in which the inanimate object – a personal possession – stands in for, and describes, the absent ‘sitter’. I believe that possessions provide small glimpses and insights into the physicality, personality and thought processes of the person being portrayed.