"Virtual Gothic 5" Painting

My work asks how we view ourselves, who is seen and what we might want to be. To do this, I invert the traditions of rendering resemblance by inventing the subjects I portray. My ‘sitters’ induce comedy/anxiety by holding a mirror to our habitual expectations of subjectivity and its portrayal. In the search for alterity, I draw upon the political space opened by the grotesque, hybrid, gothic, abject and ironic. The work is generated from digital and material processes, resulting in two modus operandi: monstrous simulacra or tragicomic wire structures. Using software to generate chance distortions, I collect images of toys, antique dolls, and ceramics. Their domestic setting, historicity, absurd idealisation, or grotesque appearance help lend an uncanny quality to the paintings. My digitally generated sitters present themselves to our gaze, sometimes chilly or pompous, preening happily or occasionally taken by surprise. The wire pieces are both subject and object. Though wrought from actual base material with a void at their centre, ironically, comically, they appear to reveal their inner anguish or confusion. All my sitters make an ethical demand of the viewer, to be seen – included.