Georgina Amos
I paint by layering acrylic colours and masking areas at each stage, finally peeling away these areas to reveal the image. The shapes I mask are derived from amalgamations of forms I see in the world and are unrecognisable as any specific entity, lying between the figurative and the abstract. I am particularly interested in exploring objects which are instruments of communication although the actual information they convey is invisible, for example; satellite dishes, security cameras, street lights and telephone wires. I am curious to how these objects can visually combine and form, re-building new understandings of their original character.
I like to highlight the line or boundary between the figure and ground through the definition of the different layers of paint. Where something starts and ends is questioned as each layer leaks into the adjacent colour. Line only exists in the two dimensional mediums of painting and drawing. This specific relevance to the medium of painting and how line is used to describe and question boundaries emphasises an important aspect of my work.
The image is hidden to me for much of the duration of the painting; all I can use is my own projection of its final composition. For me, this hiddeness expresses the creative process, and the synchronising of the experience of both the visible and the masked. This idea of deciphering the apparently unreadable is vital to comprehending my work. The too far and too close concept referred to by Walter Benjamin as the 'aura' is particularly relevant to my paintings. There are large areas of colour containing little information yet I also paint detailed, dense images that are out of focus highlighting this suggestion of an image without seeing anything clearly.
The process of my work, despite detailed planning, is always unpredictable and adjustments have to be made at each stage. For me this is the only way a specific material such as paint, can create anything new and meaningful, through seeing and learning from these controlled accidents.
I am influenced by abstract painters such as Jonathan Lasker and Mary Heilmann who question what abstraction is now in painting and what possibilities there are for new understandings in this field. Lasker's work also has particular relevance to me due to his clear curiosity with the relation between figure and ground. I am also interested in the exploration of the materiality of paint in Phillip Allen's work. Anthony Caro's absence of the figure in his sculptures and how he combines forms to create new understandings is especially relevant to my work.
My paintings explore the problem of gaining and conveying knowledge and communication through the visual and are founded through my experience of making art and looking at art. I am exploring whether there is a possibility of visual communication within painting and what it is about visual communication that drives so many of us to explore it.
Biography
1982 Born in Cambridge
Exhibitions
2005 Byard Art Gallery Open, one of 20 artists selected, Byard Art Gallery, Cambridge
2004 Kettles Yard Open, one of 11 artists selected, Kettles Yard Gallery, Cambridge
2004 "Bridge The Gap", The Concrete Basement Gallery, Waterloo, London
2003 "Café Gallery Projects", Southwark, London
2003 The House Gallery, Camberwell, London
2003 Byam Shaw School of Art, London
Competitions
2005 DLA Art Award, shortlisted
2005 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, shortlisted
Education
BA Fine Art Chelsea College of Art & Design, London
Diploma Foundation Studies (Art & Design) with merit Cambridge Regional College