Emma McIntyre
Being Alone Together
My interests lie in the ambivalence created while trying to find a space in between things, as painting itself occupies spaces between. In my work the wobbly line – honest of the body’s capabilities, counters the rigid geometry of the grid. The trace of bodies - both the artist’s and others - are present as I question the individual mark maker. Employing recognisable forms and motifs, the project works through problems, such as how to make spatial depth in typically two-dimensional patterns like polka dots and plaid. How simple can a painting appear while giving just enough away to keep the viewer looking? Exploring the gap between meaning and understanding, there is an interest in toeing the line where a painting may be misunderstood as too basic, too fast, too flat. The research project engages with the historically feminist dialect of ‘women’s work’, introducing grids as cloth and quilt-like references, an alternative to the modernist grid. I consider the notion that a painting is like a tiny fragment arbitrarily cropped from an infinitely larger cloth.
