CLARE CHURCHOUSE
STATEMENT
Current
My work is concerned with investigating ways of putting elements together to create different experiences and meanings.
This work develops out of painting, from taking apart the stretcher to now working with a wide variety of materials which I relate together. I call these paintings ‘pieces’ to stress a concern with three-dimensional as well as pictorial space. Many of the pieces open up space within them and contain a strong element of linearity.
I am interested in the nature and uses of the materials/objects which I select and in ways I can alter their interpretation. A second strand of the work is based on functional objects, eg. rugs, bedding and rubber tyres, and the opening up and subverting of their associations.
The intention of these pieces is to be deliberately raw, leaving a sense of disquiet and unease. They are concerned with issues of boundaries — extending and crossing over them —and use ideas of restraint/release and of hiding/revealing. I am interested in portraying conflicting tensions, uncertainty and fragility.
RecentThe object nature of canvases is my concern in this series. My intention is to explore the formal, factual limits of painting and the immediate space surrounding a canvas, including the contained space behind the painted surface.
The canvas is peeled back from the stretcher to reveal objects existing underneath or pulled forward from the picture plane to destroy its flat surface. In some works, the painting is hung away from the wall to reveal the back of the frame. These pieces are concerned with hiding and exposure and contain a surrealistic edge.
Past Paintings
These paintingsare all large in size, made over a period of eight years.
In 1992-93, exploration of paint as fluid matter was the basis of a series of works. The canvas was laid flat on the ground and acrylic of varying thicknesses and textures poured onto it. Unpainted canvas is nearly always left in order to counteract the illusion of creating another world and to allow for a sense of incompleteness.
The following series involved placing hardedged forms up against poured areas of paint. Conflicting tensions are set up between juxtaposed shapes, highlighting the boundaries and gaps between them, including the spatial divides between flat areas and geometric forms.