Thinking

 

I have been working as an artist for 23 years, although seeds were sown long before that. My family are engineers, draughtsmen and dentists, and this thread was passed to me. I plan to be technical and methodical, to set rules, be unemotional, pouring thick acrylic paint between strict borders but the paint always seems to seep out. 

 

Around 2015 I started to make my clunky figures slip and move, maybe after years of watching dance. Soon after I adapted my painting technique for performance mainly running and walking as if at work in another profession, like a farmer or a construction worker, using abandoned machinery and building sites as a backdrop.

 

In these new paintings I’m standing in my studio like  a DJ on a new gig,  with a bit of a reputation and stiff new crowd. I have learned to bend my own rules, to be in the moment, mixing for both colour and just the right consistency to pour through stencils I have cobbled together and moving them around, unwashed, like a series of bloodied bandages.
 

I am learning to bend my own strict rules, to go ahead, trust my instincts and improvise on canvas in the same way I have to do on location as a performer. I like it all. And I must continue to be brave.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Julia Warr, August 2022         ps. paintings on this site are not up to date. check instagram!