My work explores forced repetition through manual manipulation to construct sculptural, three-dimensional paintings. My focus is on fabric; a malleable material that never naturally falls the same way twice. Fabric’s fluidity creates a vast range of possibilities, but my work looks to juxtapose that. By imitating fabric through painting and forcing it to take the form a sculptural object, it is no longer a fluid entity full of movement. Through coercing the sculptures into a repetitive form, I am breaching the nature of fabric, which ‘never falls the same way twice.’ Using oil paints with liquin creates a fluid and soft surface, replicating the feeling of a soft and flowing fabric. By painting my sculptures once my canvas has already been manipulated into its final form, I am able to paint in a way that enhances the depth and beauty already present.
Catholicism plays a huge role in my colour palette. Purple, representing mourning and penance within Catholicism is symbolic of a personal connection to loss, grief and mercy. As my paintings seek to defy the nature of fabric, my colour palette seeks the opposite as it connects to human emotion and grief.