Interiors

Interior (My Bedroom)

Interiors

For the exhibition Other People’s Parties at Quiet Dog Gallery, I created a series of three self-portraits. The paintings are reverse-painted in acrylic on Perspex—two measure 300 × 210 mm, and the third is slightly larger at 300 × 400 mm. Reverse painting is a process of working backwards. Each layer is applied in reverse order to the back of a surface. Once the painting is complete, the image is sealed and fixed in place.

The series began with collages made from torn-up interiors and fashion magazines. These compositions reflected my feelings about returning home to Ōtautahi, Christchurch, after fifteen years of living in Wakatū, Nelson.

What is an interior?

All three works share the same first word in their titles: Interior. I’ve been reading Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. In The Married Woman chapter de Beauvoir discusses Gaston Bachelard’s idea of home as a kind of counter-universe or universe in opposition.

She writes:

Reality is concentrated inside the house, while outer space seems to collapse.

The idea of the home as a complete world, set against a dissolving outside world has me reflecting on how much of my recent work—consciously or not—has focused on that inner world: the everyday spaces where memory and imagination meet.

Exhibition Details

Other People’s Parties is on view at Quiet Dog Gallery, Wakatū Nelson, until 5 July. You can visit the gallery in person or explore their website for more information.

Latest News

I’m pleased to share that one of the Interior works has been sold.