ASYMMETRY
Kath Cornwall
Artist statement
When I make art, I feel a separation from myself occurring. As I analyse my subject, I achieve a sense of higher consciousness. All my imperfections roll out in a cascade of marks abstracted from my sensory perception of the landscape before me. Here is where I then connect with my inner self.
I like to explore the concept of evoking a human presence from the landscape. I can sense this duality in our world and zone in on specific elements within the environment, like trees, by treating them with an intimacy as if they were sitting with me for a portrait, up close.
Seeking to relay a live human-like relationship with the immediate surroundings, when visually describing my subject, I tend toward the raw graphic energy of the drawing element within my paintings. Here I can create a sense of immediacy, showing evidence of the movement in my creative process. I am interested in the driving force of pattern, intimacy, interconnectedness, organic form and the interplay of light and line. My drypoint etchings are abstracted from completed graphic styled paintings. I truly enjoy this process as it allows a complete give from me into the focus on detail. I love the effect of drypoint with its roughness, softness and depth of tone.
I love the tree, it is a challenge, but is forgiving. It provides a cerebral presence as I work, so that I may escape into its folds and scatterings of colour, and yet create a substantial form. A tree may captivate me as it emulates water, its living self stilled in a position of flow, or bowing and wrinkling to the weight of time on its shoulders, the angles of a human figure.
This exhibition was on display at brush & Press Studio from 3rd August until 2 September 2012