Paintings

On Pointe

2023

H 100cm x W 100cm x D 5cm

Oil on linen

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken (Au)

On Pointe captures the figures of two women both performing their entertaining roles in very different ways. One Eastern, one Western they connect through their current states as vessels for perfume. Scent & sight entice & conjure up another memory from her archive resulting in complex plains of view akin to a landscape.

Helve

2022 - 2023

H 60cm x W 60cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken (Au)

Helve explores a personal trauma relating to a personal incident of bullying. Translucent red folds vibrate alongside the turquoise - a palette chosen to enphasize the vulnerable themes in this piece.

Hopper

2022 - 2023

H 60cm x W 60cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken (Au)

Hopper transforms a personal moment of pain into a verdent still life abstraction using the artists method of crushing watercolour drawings to embed stories into the folds.

A hidden story is revealed out loud through the brush strokes firstly on paper then on canvas.

Locks

2022

H 40cm x W 40cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken (Au)

Locks connects two seperate incidents involving break-ins at her home & studio. The anxiety which followed led to hyper-vigilance & a continued tension when in both spaces.

Carmen

2022

H 75cm x W 75cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis Unbroken (Au)

This very happy looking painting is the transformation of a negative into a positive, somewhere dark & dangerous into something light & safe.

The Purple Room

2020

H 75cm x W 75cm

Oil on canvas

The Purple Room focuses on a particular traumatic event & the objects associated with it. This title refers to a room inside a temporary residence where the artist slept at the time. 

Abstraction as a noun is ironically described as: the quality of dealing with ideas rather than events - "topics will vary in degrees of abstraction". However, this work is an exact combination of two things the peice is dealing with, both variants of ideas & the variants of the memory of the event that is abstracted. 

Home

2020

H 110cm x W 95cm

Oil on canvas

The painting Home is the first work made as part of a collaboration with photographer Allie Crewe to produce paintings which would be used as backdrops for her portrait project, I Am…photographing survivors of domestic abuse. The exploration of the subject continues, with works collated into the series Crushing Trauma. 

Home was created through a process devised not only subvert but crush past trauma both literally & psychologically & to transform it into something beautiful. 

Objects connected & associated with domestic abuse were listed. Drawings were then made of the items, sourcing specific period pieces as well as representations of each object or thing. These were then painted onto fabric or soft paper in the key colour connected with each subject or event, then crushed in the hand. The act of crushing the depictions not only obliterated the images associated with the trauma but also distorts them & the power they held. This acknowledges the fractured nature of surviving trauma, splintered memories which do not appear in a linear fashion or recall, & the strength it requires to survive. Painting the disempowered objects now crushed celebrates the beauty of those survivors & acknowledges the resolve it takes to move forward. 

* 'I Am...' project: LINK  Photographs ©Allie Crewe / Paintings ©Laura Noble

Fold in Blue

2020

H 20.3cm x W 25.4cm x D 2.5cm

Oil on canvas

An abstraction of fabric folds painted from memory. This painting resulted from a reflection of the stillness of summer during the quiet time of lockdown examining the reoccurring theme of anamnesis. 

Volume Above

2019

H 40cm x W 40cm

Oil on canvas

Exploring the themes of memory - specifically anamnesis, a Platonic form of remembering. Items inside or obstructing the book are purposely left out, omitted from view to encourage viewers to fill in the gaps themselves. The negative space which surrounds the object is of equal importance. The square format allows the mind’s eye to follow its natural instinct to square the point of action without peripheral distractions. 

The Manikin

H 100cm x 100cm x W6cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis

Creating the pivotal space between reality & perceived reality, The Manikin resides at the mouth of Plato’s Cave where the cloth freezes mid-air before it falls, momentarily defying gravity. The sheet held by four women throwing the manikin in Goya’s master work dated 1791-2 (a representation of Goya himself & representing the difficult relationships with them his own life) omitting the figure presents an abstracted view of an event now long past & possibly fictitious. This work also explores the theory of anamnesis. The background is inspired by the setting of the original Goya painting The Straw Manikin.

By taking away a sense of scale the work can be viewed in many ways, assuming the size of the cloth to be large or small. The paintings in the series are all 100cm sq so that the perfect viewing distance of the piece is 100cm away from the work, thus cresting another square by the viewer, giving equal space to both. In creating a square the minds eye is aided to focus upon the whole in one go.

The Entombment

H 100cm x 100cm x W6cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis

Icons & religious paintings often feature real gold halos. Using a heavy precious metal to depict something ethereal - a circle of light to represent the holiness of the person it emanates from - is an irony which is further emphasised when everything else is removed. The antique gold paint is laid thickly upon the black to give a pronounced physicality to it. There are suggestions of the scene & protagonists whose heads appear only a silhouettes within the black that appear & recede depending on where light rests upon it. As with the other works in this series the process of editing is essential to focus the eye upon the point of action.

Cell 3 Annunciation

H 100cm x 100cm x W6cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Anamnesis

The angel Gabriel is present only through the inclusion of their wings. The cracked surface of the rest of the painting infers the source of the work as a fresco. The elaborate multi-coloured wings become heavy amidst the stark background a further nod to the pared back ‘cell’ in which the scene is set.

Mme D'Haussonville, nee Louise-Albertine de Broglie

Diptych H 200cm x W 200 cm (each painting H 200cm x W 100cm)

Oil on canvas

Mme D'Haussonville, nee Louise-Albertine de Broglie Louise de Broglie, also known as Countess d'Haussonville was a French essayist and biographer, & a member of the House of Broglie, a distinguished French family. A granddaughter of the novelist Germaine de Staël, she was considered independent, liberal, & outspoken.

Moved by the forthright gaze of Louise & repeated viewings of the Ingres painting whilst displayed at the National Gallery in London it is now back at its home in the Frick Collection in New York.

The left painting retains the texture of the canvas beneath the paint, whereas the right panel is smooth to mimic the glass off the mirror in & its reflection. The ribbon in the mirror is also varnished. The line work appears & disappears amidst the black ground so that as you approach the diptych only the ribbon & its reflection are visible in space. Louise appears to move in & out of the painting. The two panels form a square best viewed from a 200cm distance, this creating another square between the viewer & the work.

Death of Marat

H 100cm x 100cm x W 6cm

Oil on canvas

NFS

Series: Anamnesis

A depiction of ‘pivotal space’ which is the crux of the space where each painting in the Anamnesis series resides between perception & reality, Death of Marat depicts two key elements in the portrait of the 1793 painting by Jacques-Louis David The Death of Marat that renders the murder of the journalist, politician & leader in the French Revolution Jean-Paul Marat. Editing the content of the painting, leaving only the quills we enter the two realms of life & death. The axis between the two objects symbolises the moment between the two. The quill on the left is in his hand is upright signifying life, whilst the horizontal quill resting upon a wooden box is obscured by an ink pot denotes death. The gaps where the ink is absent suggests the soul leaving the body, designating that all three realms are present.

The Blue Book

H 41cm x 41cm

Oil & acrylic on canvas

Series: Anamnesis

Editing icons until the only element which remains is a book. The graphic nature of the simplistic style of religious icons becomes apparent & the perception of the contents of the open page are left to interpretation without the guidance of tableaux in which it resides. Any obstruction of the book is left as a gap to imply a narrative for the viewer to construct. Each canvas is ground in a dark brown visible at the edges & sides of the painting to emulate the wooden icon which is its source. 

The Red Book

H 41cm x 41cm

Oil & acrylic on canvas

Series: Anamnesis

Icons paired down to one object, in this case a book, the symbol of knowledge, held by a hand that cannot be seen. The contents of which & the negative space which surrounds it are left to the viewers imagination.

Blue Perspective

H 41cm x 41cm

Oil & acrylic on canvas

Series: Anamnesis

As with many early icons the perspective is questionable, the image functions as information for those who cannot read. To stay true to the original work the fault is left uncorrected.

Turquoise Tome

H 30cm x W 30cm x D 8

Oil & acrylic on canvas on board

Series: Anamnesis

Many layers of paint are used to give texture & the underpainting of red beneath is used to intensify the layers on top. (Red ochre was commonly used in icon painting.) The sides are brown to mimic the linden or pine wood that was traditionally used for an icon panel. The canvas is glued to a board & stretched around it to all the outer sides to be painted. (Traditionally, va layer of linen cloth soaked in sturgeon glue is put on the panel.)

This acknowledgement to the past is, as ever, pivotal to the reading of an otherwise contemporary painting residing amidst several genres. These genres are purposely fluid & open to interpretation to emphasise the circular not linear narrative of time.

As with many icons the perspective is flawed. This particular work hints at the source through the positioning of the book at a lower level, however is not governed by it. Figurative aspects are suggested & implied though the omission of the people holding & kneeling beneath the book.

Key

H8.2cm x W13.3cm x D 4.5cm

Oil on canvas

With heavy shadows a Key floats in space. The depth of the canvas allows for the painted object to have more weight & dimension. I can be hung or placed flat or free standing

The Cave

H 100cm x W 100cm

Oil on canvas

A depiction of Mary as still life, her form removed from the blue fabric which she is associated with. In omitting the figure the viewer is invited to project their own Mary into the space which remains. The image pivots. between perception & reality.

This feminist version of Mary is constructed through the use of a doll, as a model, its removal subverting classical depictions & directions pushed by Western societal bias.

Presence in Clay

1999

H 45cm x W 45cm

Oil on board

An imprint in clay is revealed amidst the folds of fabric in shades of green, blue & turquoise. Images are created through the intuitive connections to other beings in space & their connection to the artist.

We sat on the floor

H 40cm x 40cm

Oil on canvas

Series: Presence

Rather than drawing how a room or place looks the Presence series depicts how they feel, with figures, furniture, objects & animals all connected in space. Approaching forms, places & events in a phenomenological way so that the tensions & harmonies can be experienced in both a meditative & intense way. These instinctual works are best left for the viewer to absorb & feel the abstraction for themselves.

Untitled Presence #2

H 40 x W 40cm

Velvet

This work tricks the eye. It is not strictly a painting, but a blue velvet fabric stretched as if it were a traditional canvas. The tactile nature of the surface is maddeningly tempting to touch.

Cleopatra

H 100 x W 100 cm x D 7cm

Oil on canvas

Cleopatra has been depicted & portrayed in many ways over the centuries. Her powerful presence was iconically rendered in 1963 by Elizabeth Taylor in the epic & now infamous film of the same name. The cost of the film is legendary, producing some of the most memorable moments in cinema, not to mention 4 Oscars. The power Cleopatra wielded was ever present in her clothing & adornments. The figure of Taylor appears & recedes into the canvas whilst the two gold locusts butt heads between a sapphire. When viewing the work the necklace also changes from metallic gold to natural tones as the necklace pivots between perception & reality.

The Cave in Madrid

H 50 x W 50 cm

Oil on canvas

Two porcelain cherubs laying a shop window in Madrid placed in Plato’s Cave their halo’s solid gold look out to a world we cannot see.

Bette

H 41cm x W 41cm x D 4cm 

Acrylic & oil on box frame boards

The figure comes in & out of focus as its raised lines recede into the background. Chosen for the item on their clothing to highlight in oils - which becomes the focal point - presenting iconic women in a new light. This paired back aesthetic invites a more contemplative & lingering gaze. Each woman is easily identified by their uniquely striking features in film.

Elizabeth

H 41cm x W 41cm x D 4cm 

Acrylic & oil on box frame board

A young actress poised with a pearl earring, purposely chosen as an ironic nod to Vermeer.

Greta

H 41cm x W 41cm x D 4cm 

Acrylic & oil on box frame board

In light of her famously reclusive nature as Greta Garbo retreated from public view in later life, her distinctive gaze is hard to avoid. The classic black jet Art Deco ring takes centre stage, befitting the era at the height of her frame. The fleeting moment of fame remembered.

Marlene

H 41cm x W 41cm x D 4cm 

Acrylic & oil on box frame boards

Dietrich famously lit herself in films. Here we see the cigarette stained by her lipstick protrude from the image as she winks at the viewer.