I’ve recently been working on a series of paintings and assemblages about fabric, clothing and it’s meaning, and how we present ourselves to the world.
My work revolves around a multi sensory core. From an early age I was exposed to activities such as sewing, music, performance, dance and photography as well as painting and drawing. Consequently, I like to incorporate varied elements into my work by means of exposed, frayed canvas, attaching fabrics to the canvas in a sculptural way, or by having soundtrack accompaniment in exhibitions.
I use digital manipulation of my own photographs to generate the initial images at the start of a painting. I also use these photographs as reference for other themes – transparency, ageing, wear, and recycling.
I am interested in abstraction, as it gives freedom to the viewer to interpret the work themselves, and working from photographs and photo editing gives scope for this, as unexpected results can come from experimentation with the editing programs.
Some of my strongest early life recollections and experiences include vivid memories of clothing and fabric, such as colour, form, texture, decoration, and even how certain items felt when worn. Details of my mother’s and grandmother’s clothes, my own clothes as a child and teenager, sewn or knitted by them, are deeply imprinted on me.
Materiality in it’s elemental form is central to my thread, hence a lot of my paintings are not on stretchers, so that the edges, the reverse and surface textures of the canvases are all on full display.
Bobbie Seagroatt 