People in Jars and Bottles
People in Jars and Bottles.
2011
The inspiration for this series is a psychological exercise, 'the wheel of trust'.
You are asked to place your name in the centre of a series of circular rings on a sheet of paper. Then on the rings, you place people you know or have encountered in order of the level of your contact, trust or love - the closer to you the higher that level. Proximity can vary according to circumstance and time.
In my case, I painted the people - on canvas and linen. And added the element of the jars to represent a further dimension in the establishment of that trust. Like you might place a protective covering around something until you could observe it long enough to assess whether it should be avoided or embraced. And strings holding the jars and bottles pose the questions: Who or what is holding them and why? Will they continue to be held, or let go?
The magazine girl in a jar was from a page in a glossy magazine page. She is unknown and therefore very distant to me.
Facebook girl in a jar was an image of a friend's young girl, whom I haven't met as yet as they live in Australia.
This painting delves into how we see so many images on social media sites now of who we only know scarcely.
Dave and Eddie. Dave was an electrician who I chatted to while we were building an extension on our house. Eddie owned a liquor store where we went to buy the odd tipple. Both are known to me only through the brief conversations we had together but they are completely unknown to each other.
Makareta and Pairama are known to me through marriage. Makareta is my sister-in-law. They were very excited about acquiring new tattoos or Ta Moko by the artist Gordon Toi, and wanted to show them off. They are close to me through whanau but as I only see them on occasion they are also distant to me.
Jules Allen is a friend and work colleague. We also meet at an art critique group once a month. Jules is a performance artist. She uses lipstick within her work and the tissue paper-like background in the painting refers to the feelings she was going through at the time. I left the jar open as she is always moving and very excited about life, and perhaps because my relationship to her is still ongoing.
Some of the jars and bottles in my works are closed, and some are open as in the case of the Mad Butcher (Sir Peter Leitch). I could not see him in a closed jar. His phone being attached to his ear reinforces his constant connection to many a person outside of the glass jar and beyond our vision. The painting’s background and his logo-embroidered shirt reference his passion for rugby league. The jar looks as though it is swinging from a player’s neck, signifying a line of trust between supporter and player.
Nanette Cameron ran the highly-regarded ‘Nanette Cameron Interior Design School’ from ‘Te Tuhi’ Centre for the Arts. I knew her from working at the centre. I admired how she is full of life and always positive. I placed a swirling silver pattern in the painting's background, which appears and disappears as you walk past. This references the ever-changing trends in the design world - which she constantly and very cleverly kept up to date with.
Masked girl in a jar is an experimental work from my imagination.
A girl named Feelings, Is a separate painting to the rest and talks about trapped feelings.
Sketches in my visual diary.
1 and 2. Somethings on the horizon & I feel we can't do much about it! These two sketches were done in my visual diary and are exploring world issues, climate change being talked about in the news but seemingly quite far away from us (over the horizon) and giving a feeling of not being able to do anything about it. Like a train we are all travelling in with no brakes, heading for a brick wall. Having a false sense of security in the glass jar.
3. Out there on a limb contemplating life.
2011
The inspiration for this series is a psychological exercise, 'the wheel of trust'.
You are asked to place your name in the centre of a series of circular rings on a sheet of paper. Then on the rings, you place people you know or have encountered in order of the level of your contact, trust or love - the closer to you the higher that level. Proximity can vary according to circumstance and time.
In my case, I painted the people - on canvas and linen. And added the element of the jars to represent a further dimension in the establishment of that trust. Like you might place a protective covering around something until you could observe it long enough to assess whether it should be avoided or embraced. And strings holding the jars and bottles pose the questions: Who or what is holding them and why? Will they continue to be held, or let go?
The magazine girl in a jar was from a page in a glossy magazine page. She is unknown and therefore very distant to me.
Facebook girl in a jar was an image of a friend's young girl, whom I haven't met as yet as they live in Australia.
This painting delves into how we see so many images on social media sites now of who we only know scarcely.
Dave and Eddie. Dave was an electrician who I chatted to while we were building an extension on our house. Eddie owned a liquor store where we went to buy the odd tipple. Both are known to me only through the brief conversations we had together but they are completely unknown to each other.
Makareta and Pairama are known to me through marriage. Makareta is my sister-in-law. They were very excited about acquiring new tattoos or Ta Moko by the artist Gordon Toi, and wanted to show them off. They are close to me through whanau but as I only see them on occasion they are also distant to me.
Jules Allen is a friend and work colleague. We also meet at an art critique group once a month. Jules is a performance artist. She uses lipstick within her work and the tissue paper-like background in the painting refers to the feelings she was going through at the time. I left the jar open as she is always moving and very excited about life, and perhaps because my relationship to her is still ongoing.
Some of the jars and bottles in my works are closed, and some are open as in the case of the Mad Butcher (Sir Peter Leitch). I could not see him in a closed jar. His phone being attached to his ear reinforces his constant connection to many a person outside of the glass jar and beyond our vision. The painting’s background and his logo-embroidered shirt reference his passion for rugby league. The jar looks as though it is swinging from a player’s neck, signifying a line of trust between supporter and player.
Nanette Cameron ran the highly-regarded ‘Nanette Cameron Interior Design School’ from ‘Te Tuhi’ Centre for the Arts. I knew her from working at the centre. I admired how she is full of life and always positive. I placed a swirling silver pattern in the painting's background, which appears and disappears as you walk past. This references the ever-changing trends in the design world - which she constantly and very cleverly kept up to date with.
Masked girl in a jar is an experimental work from my imagination.
A girl named Feelings, Is a separate painting to the rest and talks about trapped feelings.
Sketches in my visual diary.
1 and 2. Somethings on the horizon & I feel we can't do much about it! These two sketches were done in my visual diary and are exploring world issues, climate change being talked about in the news but seemingly quite far away from us (over the horizon) and giving a feeling of not being able to do anything about it. Like a train we are all travelling in with no brakes, heading for a brick wall. Having a false sense of security in the glass jar.
3. Out there on a limb contemplating life.