Jackie Morris

In this body of work I have re-focused on my approach to abstract painting. The main images are taken from reproductions of art historical paintings. The human figure is removed, allowing the fabric and its folds to take centre stage. I have studied both historical and contemporary art to juxtapose possible relationships between the two. In the historical context the gesture becomes figurative, however as a comment on the contemporary the figurative is manipulated to imply the gestural. My ongoing fascination with textiles is reflected throughout my practice, where I am attracted to the seductive qualities of fabrics and draperies and the differing characteristics of each folds. These paintings focus specifically on the dramatic and illusionistic rendering of fabrics in Baroque painting. The abstract compositions are derived through a process of combining different working methods. I select and use cut outs of illustrations which I arrange and photograph, they are then reproduced using a combination of contemporary and traditional painting methods. Pre-existing images are appropriated and recreated as abstract creating another kind of theatricality explored through the composition, contrast and colour. The painted marks vary from hyper detailed areas of flat painted brushstrokes, to scaled up gestural marks, where particular attention is made to the fine detail and loose threads of fabrics merging and weaving through each other. The colour palette mimics the photograph and concentrates on tonal contrasts from highlight to deep shadow, paying particular attention to the luminosity that shines onto the individual fabrics. Adding to this the backgrounds give the fabrics a deep space to float in. A similar interest is explored in the paintings of David Reed whose gestural marks emulate baroque drapery. In my paintings the large abstract forms are made up of micro brushstrokes as well as gestures that have not been manipulated.