MA Fine Art
I create portraits using a combination of my own experiences and memories alongside film and literary references. I am intrigued by the idea of a sinister nostalgia and the notion of observing and scrutinizing scenes of the American grotesque. My work is inspired by scenes from classic films such as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane painted from photographs of friends dressed as characters recreating scenes, using theatrical lighting to set a dramatic mood. By working from staged photographs, I create a new version of a setting that is somewhere between fantasy and reality, a controlled disruption. I draw parallels between the seductive persuasiveness of oil paint and the influence of film using a sense of satire and the grotesque to create a narrative of a sense that being in the present is fleeting and elusive. I am exploring the idea of the loss of beauty and fame, envisioning what happens when a personâs fifteen minutes are finished and the lines of the past and present are blurred.