Rose Stuart-Smith
The curved shapes of my paintings relate to the natural world where curves are often inferred if not seen; the cycle of the seasons, the movement of the planets and the whirling wind. Equally what happens within the paintings often recalls things that happen in nature but which are invisible or lie outside our unaided perception, from the atomic to the cosmic.
The curves can also relate to human culture; to architecture or interiors. I'm intrigued by the changing relationship between our culture and the natural world and how we try to control and contain nature. My recent piece in the form of five free standing paintings, relates more specifically to how we try to control and contain nature but also desire to ‘escape into the sky, and move below the water’.
The ‘delightful horrors’ that Edmund Burke sites as a source of the sublime and the resulting apocalyptic feel of many Romantic paintings has had an influence on the work. My colour palette is often deep and dramatic recalling that of the Romantics. But also included are artificial magentas, purples, greens and blues, which relate to artifice and the new ‘techno-sublime’.
Ultimately the paintings are about paint and its materiality. They are never planned, and sometimes the decisions slip out of my control as the paint takes over. The perfect balance between the controlled and the uncontrolled is something I'm still striving to achieve.
Untitled
Oil on board - 75x90cm
