Marianne Moore, b. 1982

Artist Statement

Through my work I am trying to externalise what is going on for me inside, as well as engaging with themes of power, freedom and femininity. These are all issues that I have been grappling with as I have come into, and recognised, the strength of my own feminine identity. I believe that through my work I am trying to remind myself and other women of their power.

Each painting is conceived as ideas and images which coalesce in my mind to form abstract representations that I need to bring to form. These images stem from my own emotions, body, experiences, dreams, and relationships, as well as my human rights work and research into history and prehistory. In a finished work, as well as documenting, and commenting on my own journey, I am reflecting more broadly on women’s power in history, mythology, and religion.

Fascinated by texture, I am inspired by both painting and sculpture. My preferred medium is oil paint because it is dense and slow to dry, which means it can be moulded and worked into contours that stand out from the canvas. Using a pallet knife, I enjoy sculpting large amounts of luscious oil paint into shapes that resemble necklines, spikes and explosions, appearing to rip out from the canvas. I use a brush to make clean smooth marks, layering to create height, and furious scratching with a pallet knife to keep the painting moving, and alive. If the viewer has a visceral desire to touch the final surface, then I feel I have achieved a pleasing effect.

Increasingly, I am drawn to explore the boundaries between expression and silence in my work. My compositions often juxtapose rich elements of generous paint with areas of sparce bare canvas; and messy energetic parts, clearly delineated using lines and circles, from ordered empty spaces. It is these dichotomies that help me to express and investigate the ideas that permeate my work: Power, freedom, femininity – are they chaotic, luscious and attention seeking, or are they controlled, constrained, reserved? Are they all of the above? How do they intermingle? This is what I am drawn to keep exploring.