12.3.14
PEEL talks to Rachel Sharp about her work and curating 'Painting the Pixel', at Gallery North
by Zara Worth
Zara Worth When did the exhibition start coming together?
Rachel Sharp I developed the exhibition proposal in 2011 as part of my PhD research plan. Throughout the project, I became familiar with other artists working between painting and the digital, and established a better sense of what would work in the Gallery North space. The exhibition developed in an organic way, which is an advantage of having a lot of time for planning.
Rachel Sharp I developed the exhibition proposal in 2011 as part of my PhD research plan. Throughout the project, I became familiar with other artists working between painting and the digital, and established a better sense of what would work in the Gallery North space. The exhibition developed in an organic way, which is an advantage of having a lot of time for planning.
ZW The exhibition is obviously influenced by your studies and to some extent is a form of research, how has it affected your practice and research?
RS The exhibition has allowed me to see how eight artists’ practices have evolved over 2-3 years. I have been struck by how much they have changed – for instance, Cara Nahaul was painting mainly figures when I first met her and her work has gradually become more abstract. Rachel Lancaster’s work has become more immersed in sound and film, in addition to painting. It has reminded me that artistic practices are living, breathing things. Often, our notion of an artist’s work is based on archived images; we can lose track of the subtle changes which occur day to day. I suppose this has made me feel more at ease with the changes which occur in my practice. Putting together the exhibition was a valuable opportunity to get a material understanding of how painters are responding to the digital. Some surprising conversations developed between artists’ works. For instance, there was some humorous commentary on the incompatibility of painting with the digital. In Paul Goodfellow’s Untitled (2013) a colourful underpainting is all but obliterated by white circles. It is a witty take on the computer’s ability to ‘undo changes’ and the fact that you can’t do this with painting. Meanwhile, Dan Hays’ diptych, Self Portrait (after Dan Hays, Colorado) (2005) is based on an online photo of someone living in Colorado who shares the artist’s name. The artist uses the traditional form of portrait painting to comment on the serendipity and multiplicity of the Internet. |
Rachel Sharp Monk Series (2) (2014) [Oil on canvas] 24 x 18 cm
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Paul Goodfellow Untitled, (2013) [Acrylic on Board] 27 × 54 cm
ZW What initiated your interest in the relationship between painted and digital imagery?
RS I studied figurative painting in the late nineties at The New York Studio School for Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. Painting from life, and translating the world around me into two dimensions, was an enormous challenge – it’s easy to see why it has occupied artists for years. My figures always looked a bit scary, with lots of tense, built up marks. This was due to my struggles with drawing. Representation seemed like a big problem, but I was also fascinated by it.
Later, when I began an MA in Fine Art at Northumbria University, the Internet had really taken hold. The question of how to represent the figure had an added dimension. There were countless pictures of people available online and the figure seemed to occupy a new, virtual space. This led me to explore digital images as a source of content.
ZW You use imagery from the internet as the source for your paintings, are there personal connections between you and these images before your begin working on them?
RS I began by painting pictures which my sister shared on Facebook of her family and their travels. My brother – in –law is in the military and his job has taken them to Germany, and several different states in the U.S. Later, I contacted the New York City street photographer, Brandon Stanton, for permission to do a series of paintings based on portraits from his Facebook page. Recently, I have been interested in more anonymous and random images. For instance, Monk Series (2) (2014) is based on a screenshot from a YouTube tourist video.
ZW What initiated your interest in the relationship between painted and digital imagery?
RS I studied figurative painting in the late nineties at The New York Studio School for Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. Painting from life, and translating the world around me into two dimensions, was an enormous challenge – it’s easy to see why it has occupied artists for years. My figures always looked a bit scary, with lots of tense, built up marks. This was due to my struggles with drawing. Representation seemed like a big problem, but I was also fascinated by it.
Later, when I began an MA in Fine Art at Northumbria University, the Internet had really taken hold. The question of how to represent the figure had an added dimension. There were countless pictures of people available online and the figure seemed to occupy a new, virtual space. This led me to explore digital images as a source of content.
ZW You use imagery from the internet as the source for your paintings, are there personal connections between you and these images before your begin working on them?
RS I began by painting pictures which my sister shared on Facebook of her family and their travels. My brother – in –law is in the military and his job has taken them to Germany, and several different states in the U.S. Later, I contacted the New York City street photographer, Brandon Stanton, for permission to do a series of paintings based on portraits from his Facebook page. Recently, I have been interested in more anonymous and random images. For instance, Monk Series (2) (2014) is based on a screenshot from a YouTube tourist video.
ZW There are vast quantities of images online. On Facebook (one of your sources), it is common for people to have thousands of photos, how do you go about selecting an image to paint?
RS It has taken some time to figure out an approach to selecting images. One of the problems of the Internet is that you can get absorbed by it so easily. Having some overarching themes helps me to choose images. For instance, I am producing a ‘Headdress’, ‘Monk’ and ‘Soldiers’ series. I like the fact that these categories are somewhat arbitrary or generic. I think this reflects a focus on the image, rather than the person in the image.
ZW How do you feel in terms of ownership of images taken from the internet?
RS This is a grey area which I feel I am still unravelling. So many websites are focused on sharing images with as many people as possible. Copyright laws seem to have a challenge to keep pace with the Internet. Joy Garnett, an artist in ‘Painting the Pixel’ has written extensively on the subject. She illuminates the fact that our ideas are changing, as the younger generation is much less concerned about privacy and ownership of images.
ZW Does how you view your source image change before and after painting it?
Yes, it might be a low quality image from the Internet, but through painting it, I begin to notice its uniqueness and intricacies. For the most part, I enjoy this process; however, sometimes it takes so long that I start to resent the image for being a bit of a pain! Even a work which measures 5 x 7 inches may seem like a never-ending painting. Ironically, this is usually in the final stages – the closer I get to the end, the further away it seems. The shift, from the swift transmission of images on the Internet to the slowness of painting, is a dynamic that I keep pursuing.
For more information on the artist please visit her website: www.rachelsharp.com
RS It has taken some time to figure out an approach to selecting images. One of the problems of the Internet is that you can get absorbed by it so easily. Having some overarching themes helps me to choose images. For instance, I am producing a ‘Headdress’, ‘Monk’ and ‘Soldiers’ series. I like the fact that these categories are somewhat arbitrary or generic. I think this reflects a focus on the image, rather than the person in the image.
ZW How do you feel in terms of ownership of images taken from the internet?
RS This is a grey area which I feel I am still unravelling. So many websites are focused on sharing images with as many people as possible. Copyright laws seem to have a challenge to keep pace with the Internet. Joy Garnett, an artist in ‘Painting the Pixel’ has written extensively on the subject. She illuminates the fact that our ideas are changing, as the younger generation is much less concerned about privacy and ownership of images.
ZW Does how you view your source image change before and after painting it?
Yes, it might be a low quality image from the Internet, but through painting it, I begin to notice its uniqueness and intricacies. For the most part, I enjoy this process; however, sometimes it takes so long that I start to resent the image for being a bit of a pain! Even a work which measures 5 x 7 inches may seem like a never-ending painting. Ironically, this is usually in the final stages – the closer I get to the end, the further away it seems. The shift, from the swift transmission of images on the Internet to the slowness of painting, is a dynamic that I keep pursuing.
For more information on the artist please visit her website: www.rachelsharp.com