Archive 2010-11
Hannah Maybank & David Wightman
- Venue: Fine Art Lecture Theatre
- Start: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:00:00 GMT
- End: Sat, 15 Jan 2011 13:00:00 GMT
Hannah Maybank’s paintings contain elements from the natural world such as trees, flowers, clouds, and mountains. These natural elements are pared down to simple silhouette forms to act like motifs. Worked most often in monochrome, these motifs or templates are repeated across the surface of the paintings to create a patterning in both the visual composition and through the process of their creation. Maybank uses both construction and destruction to create works which echo our relationship to time and the natural world. The cycles within life, both birth and decay, are reflected by the process in which her paintings are made: layers upon layers of latex and acrylic paint are built up to be then stripped, cut and peeled away to reveal both the composition and lifespan of the piece.
David Wightman builds layers of precision-cut wallpaper shapes to create both abstract and landscape paintings in a method similar to marquetry. Drawing on the tools of postmodern thought including pastiche, hybridity and even parody, he plays with established genres that art criticism has often declared obsolete. As such, his works are rich with wistful suggestion, and confront the struggle of any art to truly represent what it imitates.
Constructed through a systematic but experimental design process, the artist insures that both his landscapes and abstract 'targets' speak of an "obsession with colour". He establishes the harmony of his non-naturalistic palette through a combination of digital and painted modelli, rendering his paintings a geometric synthesis of contemporary and traditional methods of working. Aside from technique, Wightman's abstract and landscape works are conceptually comparable: "In both my abstract and landscape paintings, the colours and patterns I choose indicate an aesthetic link between aspirational working class homes and high art. My work is an attempt to reclaim abstraction and landscape on my own terms."