Hamish Blakely
“It is as if you are painting me in different lives”.
and never have I found a subject or genre that has so wholeheartedly engrossed my energies.The other revelation has been how unforced the process has been. Gail has been the choreographer, selecting her positions without the exertion of an artist's blueprint. It has been collaborative and easy flowing; perhaps the only way to observe the truth and communicate spontaneity. While the obligation to create a meaningful likeness is never more pressing than when painting a loved one, this technical imperative never sidelined any instinctive interpretation.There are many themes explored in this collection and, I hope that, it is evident that these works are not simply academic renderings or ornamental depictions of the female nude. Gail can express a gamut of emotions with a subtle shift in posture or a tilt of the head. How her physical stature appears to shift and morph in certain pieces is testament to her complexity and the redundancy, in this case, of an artist's unconscious inclination to summarise. Clothing can be deceptive.While petite, Gail is very strong physically and in spirit. Bereft of garment, I was allowed to explore these facts in the clearest possible pictorial terms. Gail also, isn’t vain.This meant that both of us could be relaxed whilst creating the images. Being relaxed is the key to most things. In certain pieces, the incidental adornments of headscarves and jewellery further heighten her exotic allure, adding clues to the subject of who she is and where she is from. Her olive skin tones and athletic figure reward the single light source as she effortlessly tells another story.
While I was working my way through this collection this is what Gail, my wife, said to me. In one sentence she had expressed a motif that has suffused this entire series of paintings and has become the keynote to this voyage of rediscovery. I write ‘re-discovery’ because this has been an exploration of what has always been known. Each new painting has become the vessel to uncover another aspect of her and every new piece has revealed something new; always they have been reminders of who she is, in all her incarnations. As the series evolved, it achieved its own momentum naturally and it felt as though all I had to do was to keep up. This is a unique and very fortunate position for an artist to be in; the agenda was simply the recording of what was in front of me. The character and substance were conveyed innately rather than sought after. Of course, this was also the result of lived experience; the fruition of two people simply knowing one another very well. I have not always worked in this way, although the omission of any drawing or plotting on canvas, prior to painting, still remains central. The quality of the paintings changed when I began producing dance pieces with Gail and myself as the models. Previously my reference was based on external material, on anything I could lay my hands on. I seemed to be looking outward and beyond when the real answer was closer to home.This was my first lesson. Sometimes the greatest inspiration is right in front of you. It had been right beside me all the time.This simple acknowledgement transformed my work. I then began painting Gail on her own. From a modest beginning to the work in this exhibition, I felt as though I was creating the most important work I had ever done.This is a rare but wonderful feeling
There is always another story waiting to be told.These are just the first chapters.
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