Artist Statement
Slow looking
This exhibition is an invitation to partake in slow looking.
Slow looking may seem anachronistic to our contemporary culture which venerates instantaneity. We celebrate being able to scroll through an endless procession of images online without any effort, yet we risk cultivating an attitude towards looking that is passive and inattentive, and to overlook the creativity inherent in slow looking.
Painting is speed resistant and a reminder of the richness that comes from time spent looking. Paintings affirm that slow looking is active, subjective and generative, drawing to the surface our deep thoughts, imaginings and memories where they can be laid bare for our reflection.
The paintings in this exhibition have been constructed to make visible the complexities of slow looking at play when making paintings from the perspective of the painter, to suspend them in medium of paint where they can be revisited by others, albeit with their own subjective inflections and associations.
Slow looking characterises every stage in the making of a painting. It is in operation from the way the painter experiences and contemplates what is present in the world and selects out what is of significance to be reflected and translated into paint. It is in the process of painting, shifting the gaze between the observation of the subject, objects or motifs and abstracting their presence into the painted material of shape, colour, tone and texture. It is in the protracted building of a painting, as time passes and attention fluctuates and seeing becomes host to a symphony of unscripted appearances. The focus may rest on what is present, and concurrently entertain retinal images along with images imagined and remembered. These phantom visions cast the straightforward notion of looking into a complex light.
Looking is further complicated by the fact that making a painting happens in a physical space. The space offers up its own set of distractions, from the way paintings appear against the backdrop of a paint splattered wall or in the context of other paintings and resource images. The studio is also subject to the changing effects of light throughout the day and seasons, not just altering the perception of colours, but generating shapes and patterns from the interference of sunlight and the shadows that drift across the paint surface and merge with the painted image. These conditions influence perceptions and generate alternate courses for actions in the process of painting.
Slow looking, is required to assess the needs of a painting at every stage, to reconcile the gap between the reality on the canvas and the desired outcome. The gaze of the painter consistently returns to the composition, seeing connections in the rhythm of formal elements, touching on the literal and psychological registers of the work, to determine when the sought after visual aesthetic experience is satisfied.
Finally, paintings are made to be seen by others. While these paintings necessarily reflect my experiences, they are not intended as visual puzzles to be solved, rather they are offered to encourage viewers to experience the rich, complex and generative nature of their own slow looking and the meaning it holds for them.
Elisa Crossing
September 2023