One:Paintings of Single Objects

About

“Painted with passion, a single object surrounded by space can have more power than the most elaborate composition. It can have a hypnotic effect on anyone looking at it. Because of the way it triggers the imagination. With less to absorb, viewers will project their feelings and experiences onto the art and connect with it in a deeply personal way” Christopher Gallego, Artist

The act of looking begins with the artist. Looking at the world around them, noticing small detail, seeing beauty in the seemingly insignificant, the painterly possibilities offered by an ordinary object such as a cardboard box or plastic cup.

What is it about certain lone objects that catch an artist’s eye and entice them into further investigation? A mass produced product, organic matter or handcrafted article. Flowers or fruit, laden with their own art historical significance, timeless subjects that give little away or cheaply produced ornaments celebrating the preoccupations of their time. Perhaps the artist is attracted by a metaphorical or sentimental quality, the evocation of a memory or suggestion of a narrative, it could be formal properties, a colour or a shape that sets off an idea for a painting. Simplified to a single subject in a square or rectangle, the object’s lack of context can allow the artist to contemplate its presence, elevate its status or celebrate its mundanity. An everyday object freed of its context and placed on a plinth, measured, observed, abstracted, scrutinised, immortalised.