artist statement

Portraiture is the substance of my practice. Incorporating memories and my family with found objects. Consisting of doors, scaffolding boards and slate which I use as my ‘canvas’. The ‘canvases’ usually have deeper meaning that link to the person within the piece. In 2017, I painted a portrait of my father onto an old door. The chipped paint and deterioration in the wood linked to my father’s scars on his chest from multiple heart operations. Through making the object and meaning behind the portrait being more significant than the portrait itself, this is seen as a piece of conceptual art[1]. The use of oil paints is dominant within my work as this is the way I create texture with palette knives applying thick layers within the painting allowing the paint to appear flesh-like. Colour in my paintings are mixed to create the skin tones, using blues and greens when needed to create cool shadows. My subjects within the portraits are members of my family as the importance of family and memories run throughout my practice. ‘Compared to photography, memory’s records are full of gaps’ (Kracauer, 1924, 45), my work mixes photography with memories with an outcome of portraits.

 

[1] A definition of conceptual art from Tom Godfrey’s book Conceptual Art, ‘Conceptual art in not about form or materials, but about ideas and meanings’.

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I have some designs on RedBubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/georginaottaway 

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Please have a look at my Etsy Shop 'TheCreativeOtter' https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/TheCreativeOtter

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I am also open to any commissions, please contact me if interested.

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