It was a pleasure to see the work of Glasgow based artist France-Lise McGurn on Sunday 16th February 2020. Using paint McGurn created a huge space filled with movement and life. The installation incorporated the gallery walls, windows and floors as if canvas, with vigorous brush strokes the figures seemed to ebb and flow around the gallery space. The artist worked intuitively and instinctively to reproduce remembered expressions and gestures to represent a narrative based upon place and relationships. McGurn exposed private experiencing to public scrutiny and display.
As noted, ‘In Emotia’ referred to a state of being in a moment in time, to be both emotional and in motion. The figurative compositions seemed freed up beyond the parameters of a canvas of being active, of being intertwined, overlapping and interacting one with another. The layered compositions seemed to exude a sense of intimacy with abandonment.
With the canvas work almost superimposed onto the layering below there is a sense of three-dimensional perspective, of figures in the background and foreground merging. I really appreciated this approach, of using canvas work on top of another layer of figurative painting to add another dimension to the overall installation. I hope to utilise such an approach within my own textile practice.
WeavePrint 