Fiona Eastwood lives and works in East London. She graduated from Camberwell School of Art in 2014. Eastwood was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK (2014) and Hans Brinker Painting Prize (shortlisted) Amsterdam (2013). Her works are held in private and public collections including the Priseman-Seabrook Collection. She has exhibited at the London Global Art Fair Olympia and has been selected for the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts twice.
There is an engagement with the proximity in the work. Proximity in the addressing of space within the paintings, the implied distance placed between the real world and the camera (the initial point of documentation) and the remove of the painting from the photograph, this remove providing the ‘small space of slippage …where our minds can see to freely-wonder but not obsess’ (Rodney Harder).
Employment of 1960s filmic approaches towards framing a subject plays on proximity, the ground is both impenetrable and void-like, illusionistic depth is disrupted constantly as the flat surface of the painting is addressed. Paint becomes its own preclusion not confined to revealing a represented image but its own presence on the surface ‘the painted mark is the thing in itself and the thing it describes’ (Altfest), the pursuit of eschewing a complete adherence to either being important to the work. ‘To remain unsure about when a representation points to a reality outside of itself and when it points back to itself. It is in this place of uncertainty that painting finds its greatest leverage.’ (Schwabsky)
The paintings are made in one sitting with oil on board, the fluidity and speed of the marks indicate a quick application. The motif is compressed into a series of gestures.
The recent collage/embroidery pieces use shapes from a series of oil paintings made on paper. These shapes are cut out and stitched to a canvas covered in black cloth, this creates the same ground as used in the paintings.
The colours and shapes in these pieces are taken from postcards and photographs from my father’s time on Christmas Island in the 1950s. The act of embroidery creates a slowing down of the process and intimacy in the proximity with the work.
Self-taught or art school?
Graduate of Camberwell School of Art (Painting).
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Difficult! Raoul de Keyser or Howard Hodgkin. Though due to my interest in photography I am also drawn to the Dutch golden era, a Vermeer due to his use of colour and light. Photography owes a debt to these painters and their composition, manipulation of light, and capturing of everyday interiors. I am also interested in the still life painting of Adriaen Coorte and Rachel Ruysch.
How would you describe your style?
Non-representational. I like to play on proximity. Proximity in the addressing of space within the paintings and the removal of the painting from the photographic resource. This remove provides the ‘small space of slippage …where our minds can see to freely-wonder but not obsess’ (Rodney Harder). Paint becomes its own preclusion not confined to revealing a represented image but its own presence on the surface ‘the painted mark is the thing in itself and the thing it describes’ (Altfest), the pursuit of eschewing a complete adherence to either being important to the work. ‘To remain unsure about when a representation points to a reality outside of itself and when it points back to itself. It is in this place of uncertainty that painting finds its greatest leverage.’ (Schwabsky). The black ground is void-like, any illusionistic depth is disrupted constantly as the flat surface of the painting is addressed either through layers of paint revealing its own presence on the surface or as in the newer embroidered pieces through the presence of stitching on canvas turn the work into more of an object.
Can you tell us about your artistic process?
The paintings are made in one sitting with oil on board, the fluidity and speed of the marks indicate a quick application. The motif is compressed into a series of gestures. The recent collage/embroidery pieces use shapes from a series of oil paintings made on paper. The influence of the colours and shapes in these pieces are from postcards and personal photographs from my father’s time on Christmas Island in the 1950s. These oil painted shapes are cut out and stitched to a canvas covered in black cloth, this creates the same dark ground as used in the paintings.
The act of embroidering slows down the process and creates intimacy through the proximity of this work. This slow process gives time to consider the placement of shapes and colours, responding now to the internal logic of the piece rather than the initial photographic resource.
Is narrative important within your work?
I think the work is quite process-driven and articulates its own sense of a journey, from initial photo reference to framing and compression of marks and gestures, in the recent embroidered work this includes collage and stitching. The painting process references recorded moments. Memories of colours and shapes are appropriated through photography, but there is not an overt reliance on storytelling through representation.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
Sean Scully the way his colours/shapes appear to vibrate and hover on the surface. Raoul De Keyser, there is a playfulness to his abstract pieces. He employs a wordplay to his paintings, at once referencing and cheekily deriding ‘art speak’.
What or who inspires your art?
Sean Scully’s use of positive and negative shapes shared between works. Raoul De Keyser’s economy of marks, his work is terse and clever in how concise it is.
17th-century Dutch genre painters the use of colour and contrast in light.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
I have an extension on my kitchen where I make the paintings, it has a skylight so has the best lighting in the house. I must admit it is quite messy!
The embroidering takes place while I am sitting (generally in the evening) there is more of an intimacy with this aspect of the work due to the tactile nature of how these pieces are created. This tends to resonate with the personal nature of the initial starting point of the work i.e. my father’s photography of the island.
Do you have any studio rituals?
Not rituals exactly but there are patterns I can identify in the way I work. I am currently preoccupied with the square format and internal logic/balance it creates in the piece.
What are you working on currently?
I am continuing to work on the embroidered Christmas Island series. I have just started a triptych between which I have shared pieces cut from a single oil on paperwork, so there is a play on the use of the positive and negative shapes echoed across each work.
I am in the process of putting together a proposal for a residency at the V and A (museum). I am considering the potential of their photography archive and textile pieces as a starting point to my research.
Where can we buy your art?
For more information, you can view and make contact via my website. www.fionaeastwood.com