Florence Sweeney
‘I am searching for the threshold between disciplines of painting and sculpture in the configuration of three-dimensional tactile forms. The process of making sculptural paintings is cathartic and pursues the sense of loss represented in my work. Surfaces initially perceived to be soft are, in fact, hard and are therefore perplexing.'
Florence Sweeney (British, b. 1991) lives and works in London.
‘I am searching for the threshold between disciplines of painting and sculpture in the configuration of three-dimensional tactile forms. The process of making sculptural paintings is cathartic and pursues the sense of loss represented in my work. Surfaces initially perceived to be soft are, in fact, hard and are therefore perplexing.
The use of pigment displaces and subverts the surface, creating a constant slippage between ‘types’ of surface. For example, hard metallic sheens on soft folds, or light consuming shadows within deeper powdery blues, evoke a cathartic resonance between gesture and form between deep brooding blues and light absorbing surfaces.
Pushing against the constraint of the two-dimensional frame, the work’s enfolded surfaces of burnt bones and ultramarine become tactile terrains: their soft appearance yearns to be touched. The marks of their marker remain, but left alone to develop, the folded and pressed materials make their own response. These pieces break down the paint/canvas relation; the movement of the canvas has been allowed to elaborate itself in a way that is gestural and expressive but simultaneously a physical presence.’