Grace Mulready
Warners Bay High School
THE INTRUDER
Painting
Oil on canvas
In my body of work I pay homage to the Surrealists and explore the perplexing beauty between reality and the uncanny. My intent was to emphasise the interrelationship between identity and culture. Each vessel that holds flowers represents an epoch - traditional, modern and postmodern - and cultural variations of flower arrangement express a universal harmony of nature and humankind. In our culturally saturated world, overwhelmed by the accessibility of information, we have become desensitised to reality and are trapped within our inability to find a 'stable' identity.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Gan Chin Lee, Status Anxiety; Salman Toor.
Marker's Commentary
The Intruder is a perceptive documentation of intimate portraits in familiar domestic scenes. A simple narrative is deftly outlined through well thought out compositions and viewpoints where figures are placed strategically within. These richly coloured and tightly cropped paintings lure the viewer into the private lives of strangers engaging with the routines of day-to-day life. Audiences are uncomfortably positioned as they voyeuristically gaze into these self-absorbed and intimate spaces. The paintings are curated to highlight the isolation and introspection that can materialize when occupied with these mundane habits.
Lush blues and reds applied using a chiaroscuro technique create a sense of drama and significance in these ordinary spaces, forming a backdrop for more important and deeper musings. Overstated applications of warm yellows and cool greens display an adeptness in describing the light and atmosphere particular to various spaces. Each individuals' features are skilfully rendered offering the audience a glimpse of their character, but the diverted gaze makes this connection awkward and fleeting. This body of work beautifully captures the personal but has elevated it to resonate universally.