Unit 4 Yoga & Natural Health Centre, Brighton
I was asked
to make a painting for studio1 to cover what was once a hatch between two rooms.
The dimensions and situation of the piece were determined – approx 100cm x
140cm, otherwise I was given free rein with the work.
Initially I
thought I would paint it as a mural in situ, but realised that the studio is
too busy for that, and I therefore cut a piece of MDF to size, and have had it
on my easel, on and off, for the past six months.
This was my
first commission and site specific piece of work, and was a more challenging
project than I envisaged. The main challenge was my familiarity with the
studio, I’ve taught a yoga class there for the past several years. I am aware
of how the room is lit by sun and artificial light and how the painting is likely
to be seen from the yoga mat at varying angles in the room. All of this is a help and a hindrance – the hindrance,
my self consciousness and concern about how the painting would be received by
Pete, the commissioner of the work, and by the numerous students. I found it difficult to bracket this
information and just paint, I kept wondering how it would look in situ and
whether it would be liked. Each Monday at my yoga class I would look at the
space and try to imagine the painting there.
Over the
months it has had many, many coats of paint. Many attempts to create something
that would sit well in the studio and not appear incongruent with the nature of
Unit 4. It had layers of floating colour
– very Rothko-esque but not right, it had drips and misty colours with circles
floating – very lily pad Monet, definitely not right, it was taken into the
garden and sloshed with calligraphic marks and shed loads of water, but still
it wasn’t right and I feared all the water would warp the MDF. Eventually I
settled on an abstracted anatomical theme and predominantly monotone colour
scheme.
The result
is called Acetabulum which was installed yesterday with the help of
Richard and Peter M with the drill and hammer and lots of support that all
would be well and look fantastic.
Hoorah! It hadn’t warped too much and was easily fixed in place. A smaller series of five works to complement Acetabulum have been made for the
hallway, and were also hung yesterday.
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| Acetabulum 102cm x 136cm, acrylic on MDF 2012 |
I’m
delighted and relieved to finally install the pieces and complete the project successfully.
.
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| Epicondyle 70 x 50cm acrylic & charcoal on canvas |
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| Sacrum 60 x 40cm acrylic & charcoal on canvas |
