To question the notion of authenticity in the tradition of portraiture by using types.
2 What do you intend your work to convey to an audience?
The superficial, the artificial, the uncomfortable, the constructed dramatic and fake reality.
3 Why do you work in your chosen medium and format?
Painting is so closely linked to the mark of the artist, that using paint to explore the idea of authenticity becomes self-referential.
4 Technically speaking how do you go about constructing your work, that is the image or object itself? What devices do you employ?
The use of images from magazines as a starting point for the image, to help in terms of light and structure. It is usual that I depart from this at some point; after the initial structure has been sketched it becomes more closely aligned to the image in my mind.
5 Which period(s)/artists/specific works of art are you influenced by and how directly? How does this manifest in your work?
Jeff Koons in the idea that the exaggeration of luxury can become a negative. Marlene Dumas in that the mark of the artist’s hand can be read as an emotional truth. Luc Tuymans as the horizontal brush mark being read as an alternative to emotional truth, and conveying emptiness or the desolate. Cindy Sherman for the construction of the (multiple) female identity. Elizabeth Peyton in the unadulterated lushness and vibrant use of paint.
The work is less informed by the visual aspect of the work mentioned above; I am more influenced by the ideas which are negotiated in this work. Therefore it does not manifest itself directly or visually, but as an undercurrent of ideas that strongly underpins my work.
6 What stimulates/informs your work from the world around you?
Popular culture in the form of magazines (particularly fashion based) for the superficial, and the recent explosion of TV reality shows for the often uneasy psychological experiences people submit themselves to, and its fake ‘reality’.
7 What stimulates/informs your work from your own personal experience?
5 years of cultural theory, feminism and art criticism at university. Particularly the French deconstructionists, (admittedly it is a hazy memory, it is more an internalised way of thinking which is impossible to disconnect).
Extensive travel and study in my early 20s, studying in Melbourne, Boston and London.
Dual nationality, Australian/ English. Growing up in an English family in a tiny town in isolated Tasmania.
8 From where do you derive your other visual source material (i.e. non art historical) and how do you implement this material within your work?
Photographs often act as an aid or spark to the initial idea of the type. The type of person is then formed my own pre-conceived ideas of what they would look like.
9 What are the main problems that you face in making your work?
Making a type relies on a rare chemistry between image and idea. The stronger my idea of the existence of that type of person, the better the final piece.
10 Where do you intend to take your work from here?
More spectacular painting prowess (in terms of technique, colour exploration and tone). Each painting informs the next.
Working in series.