ECA introduction to Jessie Makinson: “Fanciful and at times unsettling depictions of female figures in paintings, drawings, ceramics, and installations… A form of automatic drawing underpins all her imagery which she then teases out the armature of a painting. These then emerge intuitively in the moment.”
My notes on her talk:
- Observational drawing is a practice that is very significant to the formation of her paintings.
- Painting only women. Figures becoming messy in an intuitive and bodily sequence of movement. Removing men, removes the power dynamic that exists between a male and female figure.
- Sit in or reference historical painting. Wilfully misunderstanding historical images. Creating stories, seeping into the work intuitively.
- Thinking about consequence within the painting, and relations between the figures in the painting.
- The patriarchy isn’t a conscious antagonist to her work. The primary consideration is composition, form, colour and line.
- There is a lot of invention in the gathering of sketches that go into a painting.
- “I couldn’t be bothered to paint them.” This is surprising to me because her work seems very careful and detailed, as though she finds enjoyment in things that I find tedious. This was quite a relieving thing to hear, it makes her impressive standard of work seem less impossible to reach. That even impressive artists find some things tedious.
- “The reciprocal nature of us and space.”
- Titling works can add another layer of narrative. Not describing the painting, but adding to it. Titles come from everyday life, taken out of context.
- The painting is a communal space. If the figures look out at the viewer there is a glitch and suddenly both universes can see each other for a moment.
Broken Woof, 35x45cm, Dangerous Pleasing, Lyles and King, 2020
Watch your Tail, 120x100cm, Nobody Axed You, Fabian Lang, Zurich, 2019
Leave a Reply