The Impossible Heap. GL Brierley

About

In her new works, GL Brierley is inspired by the textual and visual world of the theatre; she creates haunting, intimate and monumental compositions in oil, reminiscent of the dramatic installation of a stage set. Especially the plays of Samuel Beckett, as well as Shakespeare’s King Lear, with their psychological constellation of a claustrophobic relationship that cannot be escaped, are essential points of reference for the presented paintings.

The spaces of the theatre are always temporary – GL Brierley condenses their atmosphere in a masterly gestus carrying the feel of art historical still lifes; in multiple layers that accumulate over time, the artist builts an archeology of painting itsself.

The intimate and complex relationship of human and object, the dialogue between artist and canvas, collecting passion, possession and longing – her works reflect conflicting aspects of the self, manifested in paint; thus, each fold and layer of paint in the paintings of GL Brierley is emotionally charged.