Imposition and disposition : paintings : M.F.A. submission

The impetus of my work stems from ideas about the myths surrounding \witches\" and the phenomenon of \"witch hunts\" and the traditions of masks. Shrouded in mystery superstition and fear some such people whose behaviour is deemed 'different' and subsequently threatening have been seen as 'witches' - as 'others'. \"Witch figures of various types whatever their sex or function share characteristics which make them out not only as abnormal but also frightening\". (John Widdowson The Witch Figure) The fiction of 'witch' in which 'suspected' people are encased is fabricated. Elements of empirical reality are interpreted re-interpreted and mis-interpreted in respect of the beholders own social ideological and emotional needs often in order to validate a position of authority invested with the 'moral' 'natural' right and obligation to dominate to implement punishment of and to irradicate such 'possessed' beings. Repeatedly throughout the course of civilization masks have been attributed the power to transform an individual into another being personify the supernatural and deities; in effect to dissimilate and depersonify the person behind. I am interested in the use of masks and masquerade; and the notion that not only can someone don a mask in order to disguise (protect) his/her identity but that we can also mask and transform the reality of a person in order to assuage our own needs. The way in which we perceive things I believe is largely predetermined by our experiences expectations and feelings. I intend to produce a series of paintings (and drawings) which emanate from these concepts. My images will be derived through a process of isolating and exaggerating elements of figurative images juxtaposing such segments with one another and perhaps by also layering and uncovering areas in order to construct a 'new' whole. Reworking and reshaping representations of people imposing a different distorted identity (an identity containing ambiguity conflict and mystery). Abstraction or the eclipsing of extraneous visual information will be sought to give a directness and potency to my images. I will endeavour to reach an equilibrium between the vestigial suggestiveness of abstraction and the accessibility that literal references provide. I feel the need to use paint and other materials in affirmation of the art making process and in self-acknowledgement of my own fabrications (i.e. painted statements). Not wishing to either depict the 'visible' world or have my work equated with what is 'real' life I pay particular attention to painterly concerns. My first theory paper looks at the feminist art movement since 1970 focusing on the writing of Lucy Lippard. The issues raised move beyond my immediate preoccupations into a more general theoretical arena. In the second paper I would like to deal with issues more central to my work (possibly based on the social theory of magic witches and witch-hunts)."