‘Focusing on less glamorous sections of the city Caroline Nina chooses to paint the more obscure sights and spaces she finds whilst peering through gaps and alleyways into construction sites; gnarled stairwells and decaying, deteriorating buildings.
For Caroline Nina, these real, raw unpolished spaces are impressive finds – neither unpleasant nor threatening but intriguing, charismatic, authentic parts of our world.’
Paintings which work derive from the attentiveness and insight of the artist and reward the attentiveness and contemplation of the viewer. These are such paintings. Their images have been worked and reworked in order to find and to build images which reward our contemplation:
‘Oils are scraped, layered, removed; smeared, worked and reworked again and again- indicative in many ways of the process of building; of time passing; of ageing; deterioration; breaking down and of revival; reconstruction; of turning something old; damaged or worn, into something new.’
In addition to her attention to the found environment, Phillips is also keen to evoke the beyond which is unseen in her images - the sense that there is more around the corner or down the stairwell. Her use of light is often used to draw our sight towards the point at which vision ends and intuition begins:
‘Openings entice as barriers block. Stairwells guide the viewer’s gaze from one implied space to another – beyond the physical boundary of the painting.
Attracted to specific spaces that offer this potential for imagining; Caroline Nina contemplates what can be seen and the possibilities of what remains unseen. Features fascinate and draw her in with their depth and intensity.’
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Bill Fay - City Of Dreams.
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