Ludere. Rachel Clancy

About

​‘Ludere’ presents a series of paintings exploring artifice, trickery, and play. The works simultaneously explore the illusive qualities of the painted surface, against the performative acts of trickery, creating a tension between the act of making and the subject matter. The dexterity and intricate nature of the works aim to encourage a slower reading and unravelling, and the works start to read as clues. Shifting between cropped viewpoints and zoomed out narratives, the paintings explore the trickery of oil paint and glazing to infer depth and luminosity, built on historical techniques of layering. This slow, meticulous act of painting juxtaposes the fast, deceitful nature of a magic trick or sleight of hand. Analogous, mundane motifs arise throughout the works, inspired by everyday settings and objects. The paintings also explore lighting, inspired from theatre productions and plays, to emphasise details within the compositions. Through encountering the paintings in proximity to one another, connections begin to form through their shared oddity and varying viewpoints.