Still/Moving
Artist Statement,  Linden St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts, 2006

The logic of the visible at the service of the invisible
Odilon Redon

It is through the ideas of the Symbolists of depicting that which lies beneath the surface, that I have entered into a negotiation between autobiographical stimulus and borrowings from Christian, Buddhist and classical myths and iconography.

The second commandment of the Old testament tells us 'Though shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: though shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.'
However the impulse to make images and their power to captivate, has been profusely utilized by Churches and by artists themselves. 

Christian imagery was principally utilized to educate and inspire religious fervour in the illiterate.  From the personal experience of traveling to Europe this year, it seems that to the artist and art appreciator, such imagery has become the idol itself, rather than merely the signifier.
Through the adaptations in my work of such images as the pious woman, repentance and Eve in the Garden, these images become symbolic representations of my creative processes.  Correlating with that is the notion of the artist as being in consort with the divine, throughout the making of the work.  It is here the image of the pious woman is subverted.  For example, the Virgin as we are told, was the channel for God's creation.  In this instance, what she is divinely channelling, is in the form of her own portrait.

The painting Ensanguined is derived from my recent work with the performer, Queen of Cabaret Bizarre, Moira Finucane.   The performance which is the basis of the painting, is titled Soup.  Her work is a melding of various performance genres, one of which is burlesque.  Here's an apt description in the words of Robert Allen from his book Horrible Prettiness, 'the burlesque is one of several nineteenth-century entertainment forms that is grounded in the aesthetics of transgression, inversion and the grotesque.'   The reframing of the stills from Soup, allows for a departure in interpretation, from its original form.  The poses, recalling a crucifixion image, echo the grotesque aspects of biblical depictions.  Even in its dance like qualities, there is an ambiguity, is the doubling of the figure a dance with the self - or not a dance at all - but a self-flagellation.

The 'tableux vivant' and installation provide a transference of the performance (in the paintings) from the private space (the studio or dwelling) to the public space (gallery). Also shifts the work from the two-dimensional to the three-dimensional and from permanent object to an ephemeral art form, or vice versa as in the painting of Moira.

The framing devices of the paintings recall Giotto's idea of painting being like a window.  It is through these frames that the walls of the gallery have been opened, revealing some of the signs that have embedded themselves within our consciousness and the very structure of the gallery.

I would like to thank for their generous support:

Yvette Coppersmith

There’s a loss of objectivity that happens in an intimate relationship. I have the same difficulty trying to piece together what my work means. There is a fine line separating multiplicity of meaning from a total loss of meaning and between intended meaning from merely a motivation to make the work. On one level, Somewhere Here is related to the unveiling of the meaning, and it’s elusive quality to be pinned down by either the artist or viewer.

The interest in material excess and refinement recalls earlier times of sumptuary laws and the need to display ones status through appearance. Renaissance female artists often depicted themselves with great skill and dignity. Their self-portraits were partly to fulfil the curiosity of patrons and were subtly aimed at establishing themselves within a male-dominated field. In contemporary times, a self-portrait relates to the need to be seen - a need validated by our narcissistic culture. It also allows for the control of ones image, which women are lacking within the male-driven barrage of consumer advertising.

The elements of lowbrow trashy glamour inherent in the self-created pin-ups are at odds with constraint of prudish modesty and the need to be more than mere ‘eye candy’. The serious yet seductive gaze contradicts the frivolity of dressing up in a different guise and lures the viewer. The desire to be more than just surface is in someway paradoxical for the medium of painting.

The Renaissance notion that a beautiful exterior is a physical manifestation of the divine inner qualities is an enduring way of thinking to this day. The illusion that if someone perfects their physical self they simultaneously internalise the qualities they outwardly project seems quite real, so that physical appearance is taken to be a sign of what is within. The body acts as the interface between private and public spheres. Possibilities for grooming and embellishing of the body’s surface create a greater divide between outer and inner realities.