05 January 2010

Art I Like - Charlotte Hodes

Charlotte Hodes was artist-in-residence at the Wallace Collection recently (Fragmented Images was the title of the show in May 2007), and currently has an exhibition in the west end. All the work in the show is on the website. This pic (of my favourite piece) will give you an idea of how the works relate to each other -Vases based on 18th-century shapes, huge! - and strangely blobby women on them, somtimes dragging, what, a duvet ... and little pots & pans ... all very decorative and shiny and beautiful, but slightly edgy too. And her big wallpieces - collages, cut out and stuck on but printed first - mainly pink and brown, sometimes a flash of fuchsia or turquoise - you're drawn in to look at little things, and how they connect up, and you can't quite understand it, but it's fascinating nonetheless. If I'm in the neighbourhood before it closes, I'll certainly go again - it's on till 30 January.

This 1997 work is from her article (Interpreting Ceramics, issue 8) on perspectives on the female figure. A central theme in her work how to depict the female figure from her own female perspective within the context of historical representations.Her 1998 residency at the Spode factory introduced her to working on ceramic surfaces -I love the idea that this dinner service (2001) can be read like a painting, across the whole surface, and that as the meal progresses and items are removed, further images are revealed and concealed -A 10-minute video on her use of digital images is here - it's always interesting to see someone at work and find out how and why they do what they do. She kept a log of the project ("Drawing Skirts"), first with notes to get a feel for what she wants to do, and she keeps notes when she's working on images on the computer, and printouts as she goes along. Drawing isn't just about getting the right position but trying to impose a feeling or mood. When she comes to "cut and paste" on the computer, you can see how she manipulates the colours, and it's interesting to see how the huge prints are physically handled. If dealing with teeny tiny bits of paper gives you the shivers, you'll know when to stop watching!

She won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2006, and is Senior Research Fellow in Drawing at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London.

1 comment:

Fulvia said...

No matter how I search for this video, I cannot find a way to view it. Do you have another suggestion, please, Margaret? Thank you very much.