High Hopes…For Love
I’m not sure if it is cheating showing you older work, but I loved working on these pieces. The work was produced in 2014 and was designed to explore the relationship between the naivety of romance juxtaposed to the darkness and disappointments of failed relationships.
From my own perspective, I was just starting to date my partner. I knew he was something special and I was really interested in the idea that, despite what may have happened in my past relationships I continued to believe in the happily ever after ending propelled by kitsch imagery, romantic movies and the generally unrealistic expectations – no matter what happened I still had “high hopes”.
For my paintings I opted to work on smaller tiles, producing abstract pieces with lace and pop art imagery such as My Little Pony, a toy I was obsessed with as a kid.
A few of my favourites…
These are all 10cm by 10cm porcelain tiles and the medium I have used is acrylic paint along with some spray paints. The colours have been built up in layers, much like the process of falling in love!
The final gallery piece was a combination of paintings and an installation piece which you can see a little girl playing with below. She is not a plant I promise, but I LOVE the fact she is wearing pink leggings to match my work!
My installation piece is designed to poke fun at the predestined approach little girls are brought up believing. Is picking a colour and a number really all you need to do to decide your future? Each interactive fortune teller has a different message but no matter which path of colour and number you pick you will get the same fortune, can we really control our fate or once our path is chosen do or choices control us.
For the series I have taken inspiration from two main sources; Fiona Rae and Pipilotti Rist. I have also looked at pop artists like Jeff Koon and particularly how he uses kitsch imagery to comment on society.