Ingrid Veronica Fran Mansfield
Burwood Girls High School
ALONE TOGETHER
Painting
Acrylic on Canvas
The nature of life in the city is entirely paradoxical, bringing isolation and disconnect in spite of densely packed populations. Although isolation is a central subject matter of my body of work, not all the figures are represented alone, as people can be together and still isolated from the world beyond their little bubble. The audience is intended to be an outsider looking in, oblivious to the names and stories of the individual figures. My work explores the disconnect between individuals in cities, oblivious to one another's existence despite inhabiting the same small area.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists: Igor Piwowarczyk, Pascal Campion, Edward Hopper.
Marker's Commentary
This curated multi panelled series explores a world bordering on dystopia through the eyes of the observer placed in the central panel. The surrounding panels are a stocktake of Jeffrey Smart inspired architectural observations made from various vantage points. The silhouetted figures, streetscapes and unadorned buildings provide little interest or life and show the banality of the existence of those within. People are alienated, surviving separately within an indifferent and soulless environment. The audiences’ experience during a pandemic and the perceived alienation within society are reflected and heightened within these low-key scenes.
Exaggerated and flattened perspectives of cramped buildings; varying viewpoints; highly cropped, empty spaces; and back lit windows engender feelings of claustrophobia and loneliness. The monotonous cool green and black shadows heighten a cold and dismal world while the pops of warm yellow light torment the observer and their need for connection. A surreal, abnormal domain is created using a simplistic rendering of an urbanised world, employing stylistic traits from Giorgio de Chirico.