Mia
My exhibition explores motifs of urban landscapes and environments. The paintings, sculptures, bas-reliefs, collages and drawings represent architectural details and sections of streets primarily inspired from my travels around France and the city of Pairs, where I live, as well as drawing on my own memories. The choice of architecture as a subject came from the varied and always changing architecture of Paris. The composition of my pieces into fragments and close up views allows viewers to see sections of reality and gives them the opportunity to reimagine the whole scene or place. The intention of my work is to revisit one's memories and reminisce through the details of places by letting the viewer imagine themselves in the streets’ bustle and business.
The majority of my pieces in this collection are mixed media working primarily with cardboard, ink and acrylic paint. The use of cardboard was inspired by Parisian artist Eva Jospin and her forest landscapes made entirely out of cardboard. This was a turning point in my development of pieces. For example, my piece Lake Winnipesaukee is a more abstract exploration and experimentation with the combination of materials such as cardboard and mixed media pieces as well as the beginning of the exploration with using more vivid colours.
My pieces range from highly figurative to more abstract pieces. My figurative pieces draw on the work of Ralph Goings, known for his hyper realistic works of art that inspired my piece Windows, an acrylic painting of a close-up of reflective windows.
I also experimented with different views and perspectives and created artworks in relief as seen in my piece Snapshots, a series of small drawings placed on different depths of cardboard, paper and carton.
The exhibition space was a large linear wall divided into sections with two directions from which viewers could enter to view my work. I thus decided to place my large-scale piece off-centre on the wall so that from one entrance the viewers could appreciate it first without the piece being overwhelming and taking away the effect of my other pieces. I then decided to group my smaller pieces by materials and format. I placed my charcoal drawing, watercolour painting, concertina and Snapshots in the same sections of the wall. I then grouped my two figurative canvas paintings as they are of similar size and shape and thus compliment each other. I also chose to place my pieces on different levels up and down the wall to mimic the feeling of walking down a street so the viewer can notice the details of my pieces as one might notice the details of architecture in real life.
All my pieces intend to make the audience relive their memories through the familiarity of my subject matter. I also wanted to try and encapsulate the feeling of awe and curiosity about the details, colour and surface used in my figurative and abstract representations of architectural details and fragments of streets or landscapes. I intended the viewers to see fragments of reality in order to allow them to reconstruct the rest of the piece in a way that reflects their own experiences and the intimacy and comfort that comes from familiar places.
Lake Winnipesaukee (March 2021)
Cardboard, ink, glue
50 x 80 cm
Lake Winnipesaukee explores the representation of synesthesia in art. The piece consists of ink to create colourful vibrancy as well as collaged strips of cardboard to create the illusion of many lines and a distorted visual reality. The layering of the cardboard in order to create depth and a semi three-dimensional piece was inspired by Eva Jospin and her collections Forets. This piece is a representation of Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire, USA.
Concertina 1 (September 2020)
Mixed media
117 x 28cm
This piece was more about experimentation for me. Working with materials I wasn't used to was very interesting and the concertina was a perfect excuse to explore the different effects I could create with ink and textures. I drew a lot of inspiration from Karen Stamper, an artist who focuses mainly on concertina pieces and the collaging of different materials. I also drew inspiration from my parisian surroundings, choosing to focus on the various and interesting types of windows all around us.
Tonal Drawing 1 (October 2020)
Charcoal and chalk on paper
58 x 46 cm
My goal with this drawing was to capture the essence of photorealism as much as possible. The image I chose to recreate was the most interesting and had a wide variety of values that could help me achieve my goal. I was inspired by the juxtaposition of the reflective and modern car against the more traditional architecture and the natural forms of the foliage behind it. I tried to replicate as many of the details as possible and emphasise the bolder colours to make the two elements jump out.
Fragmented Car (November 2020)
Ceramic
30 x 18 x 10 cm
This sculpture was inspired by my charcoal piece. I zoomed in on various elements of the car in order to create this ceramic piece. My original idea for the piece was quite different to how it ended up. I really liked the idea of fragmentation, of deconstructing the car into individual pieces and attaching temp. In the end I attached the fragments onto a bigger slab to achieve my final look This piece was a real discovery of the technical skills that accompany ceramics.
Windows (December 2020)
Acrylic paint on canvas
30 x 30 cm
This piece aims to explore photo realism. I took a lot of inspiration from artists such as Ralph Goings, who is a big contributor to the photo realist movement. However, I did not want to be too precise. I wanted to maintain certain elements of paint over photos. So I experimented with colours, choosing to blend them on the canvas and using different shades of primary colours to find the more interesting hues. I wanted to emphasise the hidden colours that are not clearly visible in the photo as well as experimenting with reflection.
Dissociate (June 2021)
Acrylic Paint on wood panel
250x125cm
This piece aims to look at the combination and contrast of colours. This portrait was inspired by a self-portrait by Andy Dixon. I wanted to represent the planes and angles of the face by using strategically placed colourful shapes. I selected colours that I hoped would contrast while simultaneously complimenting each other. It attempts to create the dissociative feeling that can arise in settings where one escapes reality such as parties.
Joyeuse (October 2021)
Acrylic, charcoal, brown paper on canvas
81 x 101 cm
Joyeuse is based on my own photograph, which explores combining more figurative drawing with collage using brown paper and more abstract acrylic paint work to create a purposefully naive style that reflects the child-like wonder that occurs when discovering new places. This is done by distorting colour, shape and perspective, reminiscent of Cubism. I was inspired by small elements of photorealism painted onto cardboard by Evol and the chaotic and random nature of Raucshenberg’s mixed media work.
Snapshots (November 2021)
Ink, cardboard, paper, wood, string
118 x 27 cm
Snapshots is a series of mini sketches based off of elements of my own photographs and memories collaged together to create one piece. The monochromatic colour palette and the juxtaposition of figurative elements on cardboard and brown paper were inspired by the street artist, Evol. This piece aims to capture the small elements that often go unnoticed in our busy urban lives.
Café du Marché (February 2022)
Oil on canvas
30 x 30 cm
This painting is a figurative painting representing a Parisian cafe. This painting is an exploration of how to use oil paints to create textures and experiment with colours and the mood they can create. Café du Marché attempts to create a feeling of comfort and warmth that comes with familiar places and the intimacy of having conversations with people we are close to.
Un verre au Marais (March 2022)
Watercolour, coloured pencil, pen
60 x 43 cm
This artwork aims to have an illustrative quality similar to that of a story book. The use of materials was inspired by Ralph Goings’ use of watercolour with pencil and; thus, I experimented with the different effects and textures. This painting aims to capture a bustly atmosphere with the crowded composition and the bright colours.