Statement

​

Over the last three decades my approach to painting has developed alongside my work as a scenic artist for the film industry where I painted backdrops and murals. These large-scale works demanded an approach to rendering form and space quickly, using large brushes and sometimes rollers to block in the major shapes of the imagery. I’ve left film painting behind and now devote my time to my own art practice. However, the techniques I learned in that field have had a lasting influence on my work through my style of broad brushwork while striving to simplify architectural form into its essential shapes.

The architecture and objects I paint — a wall, a driveway, a railing — record a time of day and convey a mood through the angle of shadows, or the cast and color of light upon pavement or an adjacent wall. I am interested in spaces of limbo within my city; the spaces we move through routinely yet pay little attention to. From these otherwise ordinary and sometimes stark locations, I seek to draw from them a sense of intimacy and implied human presence. Though I often feel ambivalent towards these spaces, I recognize that my impulse to paint them serves as a form of reconciliation with my life lived amidst this hectic and sometimes “ugly” urban landscape.

The subjects I choose begin with photographs taken with my phone during walks in my neighborhood or while out on errands. My choice of what to paint comes from sifting through these many photos, searching for compositions while considering what within an image is emotionally compelling to me. Departing from a literal rendition of the photo, I work to usher the painting towards painterly concerns of composition, colour, and value relationships while enjoying the fluidity and materiality of the paint and the discoveries which arise from this process.

​

Website: gillianrichardsartist.com

Instagram & facebook: gillianrichardsartist