"Walk slowly towards the light"

Abstract

The underlying themes of this solo exhibition were the female performer, subjectivity, and the notion of spectacle within the context of abstract painting. The project mapped out, identified and theoretically analysed aspects of my own practice as ‘artist’, further exploring ideas of the spectacle within a public space through the activity of painting itself; exploring how a particular context informs our notions of performance and spectacle, and where the individual can be placed within this. Based in Las Vegas, I research and documented neon signs, architecture and Showgirl performances, also interviewing author Libby Lumpkin (‘Nine Little Art Histories’). Documentation, including video, photographic and digital processes, became a resource informing processes of layering within my painting practice. At Matt’s Gallery, lighting critically became an invitation and obstacle to viewing the paintings. Alluding to the ‘Show Girl’ I set out to make perceptible, a sense of performance using reflective materials. Florescent and neon light, and layers constructed within the physical painted surfaces of the works using layers of paint and glass beads aimed at drawing the viewer into the ‘act’ of looking, thereby on some level, performing the work. Other texts referenced: ‘Formations of Fantasy’ (Joan Rivierie); and ‘Womenliness and the Masquerade’, ‘The Showgirl’, ‘Deep Design’, (Libby Lumpkin). The context for my work engages with an emerging discourse around the female artist, aesthetics and the language of pleasure with painting practice; an area of research and practice challenging the existing canon of modernist art historical critique and analysis