Despondency Painting

Despondency was exhibited with my Honours project 'Lonely Together' in 2017 at the Curtin University Degree Show. This artwork was also selected and exhibited at the 2018 Clyde & Co Art Awards. Despondency is a large oil painting that aims to actively engage the viewer by filling the viewers perception with colour, tone and ‘perceived’ texture. Perceived due to the manner in which the gestural marks are smoothed over with a door seal I improvised for a squeegee. The process of this particular painting contains approximately four layers. The base of the painting is composed of Titanium white with a small amount of Prussian Blue, this layer contains a greenish tinge due to the amount of Archival Smooth Gel Medium that was used. This layer is applied over the entire support, with some areas scraped back and other areas more generously applied. I then used the door seal to smooth the marks that were made in this process. Secondly to this, the more chaotic and gestural marks were made with a palette knife, in which the marks were smoothed over every so often during the process. Here the oil paint was not preciously mixed to match certain hues, rather the hues were all slightly different- helping in creating the depth and points of focus. The metaphorical allusions that can be linked to Despondency include, but are not limited to; the ocean, landscape, and rain falling onto windows. The active marks and visible depth invite the viewer in for closer inspection. When the viewer does this they may realise that there are final details in this painting that are not visible from a quick interaction with the painting. This is an attempt to engage the viewer in the experience the painting offers. The monochromatic nature of the colours used allow the painting to seem soothing, calm, almost inviting the viewer to engage with the painting. Within the exegesis I have referred to the ways in which the body of work, collectively, works towards engaging in the discourse of loneliness and contemporary painting. Despondency works in the way of layers representing the various sensations of loneliness, also acting as a form of concealment to what is underneath. Under all the various sensations of loneliness is the cause of the loneliness, the ‘heart’ of the painting, the ‘heart’ of the sensations. Stillness, darkness, allowing the viewer to ponder in certain areas- similar to the way in which Nancy Constandelia’s paintings function. I consider this painting to be successful due to the painting being able to engage the viewers entire sight, due to the large scale. When installed the painting is quite low, again, allowing the viewer to engage into the ‘heart’ of the painting, allowing its vulnerabilities to be sighted. The space that is around the painting, when installed, also encourages the viewer to purely focus on the painting.