The work I created during the 2-month residency was a symphony on materiality. I worked with and against nature, aspired to unlearn learned painting and drawing techniques, as well as acquire new methodologies. I combined plastic, alkyds and linseed with natural pigments, dyes and plant materials playing the role of the alchemist in the studio. Applying these concoctions on to organic cotton doused with rabbit skin glue, cold-pressed manufactured paper lacquered with acrylic mediums, and mordanted fabrics; STUDIO ROJO came to feel more like a chef’s kitchen than my previous experiences in an art studio. Literature also had a significant impact on the work I carried out. “What Painting Is” by James Elkins served as a suitable bedfellow for my investigations; alongside a number of books and audiobooks on the subject of colour more generally: Victoria Finlay’s Colour and Kassia St. Clair’s The Secret Lives of Colour being two standout titles. I worked from recipes and methodologies from Youtube and digital books. Interestingly, there was also a sub-theme and interest in the art of food, Anthony Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” being one such unexpected source of inspiration - offering some respite from the mixing, crushing and application of pigments and colour. Some of the content rose out of my continued fascination in Kurt Vonnegut’s fiction; during this residency in particular; Sirens of Titan and Mother Night. I had a palpable sense of works forming themselves as much in my mind as on the studio walls. Some of the multimedia works are sonnets, others I’d consider songs, and yet others still visual works of fiction. Some paintings derived from sketches and vice versa.
