New Paintings. The artist's subject matter is derived originally from photographing her carefully considered still -life constructions. Additionally, she commonly employs a very short depth of field. Therefore, any direction on and manipulation of the image, whether accidental or predetermined, takes place before the painting process begins.
New Paintings
Clapham Art Gallery presents. Jo Barrettgraduated from Bath
Spa University College in 2000. Since then she has achieved great
success with Clapham Art Gallery in a number of gallery exhibitions and
art fair outings as well as achieving a substantial amount of national
press coverage.
Barrett is concerned with the reworking of traditional genres in a
contemporary manner. The outsized fruit still-lives that she has become
known for display a precocious painting technique. Barrett's subject
matter is derived originally from photographing her carefully considered
still-life constructions. In emphasizing this photographic element, she
embraces the potential randomness of varieties in natural light and tone
that might affect her subject. Additionally, she commonly employs a very
short depth of field. Therefore, any direction on and manipulation of
the image, whether accidental or predetermined, takes place before the
painting process begins.
In this new body of work Barrett's compositions have continued to recall
a more classical tradition. Her impeccably painted surfaces take their
place in a lineage beginning in Ancient Greece, but recall especially
Dutch still-life painting of the 17th century. Her compositions present
a unique gravity and stillness as the subject lies dormant against
subtle backgrounds.
Barrett has also created a collection of British coastal landscape
paintings, to be shown alongside the still-lives, which also reveal her
ongoing interest in the effects of light and the textural consistency of
surfaces found in the natural world. These impeccably rendered
landscapes contain a huge amount of spatial depth, drawing the viewer
through the foreground toward the distant horizon line. They are
celebrations of the unpopulated landscape that can still be found in our
coastal lands.
Private View: Thursday 08/09/05 7.00pm - 9.00pm
Clapham Art Gallery Unit 02
40-48 Bromell's Road - London