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Lamps (2007) Light and Colour (2006) Light and Reality (2002) Prison Series (2000) Negative Space, Light Patterns and Shadows (1999) |
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| Lamps (2007) | ||
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My
very recent work has been a series of lamp paintings, which to me have
become symbolic portraits - the lamps remind me of people. What
has intrigued me about the lamp paintings is how the shadows of
the lamps are often so different from the shapes of the lamps themselves;
this reminds me of how people are often so different from their
outside projections to the world. The lamp's shadow can be seen as a kind
of
'soul' - this is its 'true' nature, which it can't hide by pretty
materials and polish, just as humans can't change their inner qualities
by only focusing on their outsides. No matter how beautiful, rich
and famous on the outside, the inside tells a different story – if
only we could see it. Some of the lamps' shadows are quite distorted
and almost ghoulish, some are comic and one or two actually reflect
the true image of the lamp; perhaps this spectrum is an apt comment
on human nature. |
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A
reference can be made to Plato’s cave, where the people living
in the cave watch shadows on a wall, believing them to be images of reality.
The images are misleading and only reflect a very skewed version of what
is actually going on behind them in the real world. I see my lamp shadows
as being the reality and the lamps the imposters but this idea can easily
be swapped around (the lamps real, the shadows false) – in fact there
is nothing real or not real, it’s all just a matter of perception. |
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| Katherine Lubar, 2006 | ||
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| Light and Colour (2006) | ||
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My main interest is in light and the emotional, psychological and visual
effects of its patterns on man-made structures such as buildings and
interiors. I am also interested in the reverse of this: the shadow
- which is the negative space of light. Light and shadow create a kind
of geometry that I abstract/minimize to a certain extent, so as to
focus on form rather than content. In
addition, I like to play with elements of perspective, hovering between
ideas of flatness and depth on the picture plane. |
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Colour is another vital element to my work: each painting is a study in colour
- investigating new colour combinations and the way different colours
change each other depending on the colour(s) they are near. I also
use colour to express light - sometimes using the brightness hierarchy
of colours to delineate what would, in black and white, be light and
shade, but also often playing with nontraditional uses of colour (for
example, using cool colours to express light or using warm colours
that 'come forward' for background spaces so as to compress the picture
plane). |
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| Katherine Lubar, 2006 | ||
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| Light and Reality (2002) | ||
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I
am interested in ideas about reality – what is real? What is
not real? In a painting, a shadow or light pattern is as tangible
as a wall; they exist on an equal reality plane. In addition, perspective
can be altered so as to make the viewer see things in a certain way.
Angles can be sharpened, colours heightened, objects simplified.
In
this way, the artist shapes what the viewer perceives. |
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Much
of my work incorporates straight lines and hard edges and all
of it involves painstaking drawing and numerous colour sketches.
There is, because of this, a definite element of control in
my work. However, there is a paradox, as the subject matter
is light, which is ephemeral, uncontrollable and free. In
all of my paintings, there is a strong light coming from somewhere,
hitting something, casting a shadow or a light pattern. Each painting
is, in a sense, a homage to light itself – light, the source
of life, the creator of energy and colour. Its sublime warmth
hits us from time to time, coming in, uninvited, through doors,
windows,
cracks, giving us for a moment its transcendent beauty, then
fading away a couple of moments later, into darkness. What
I hope to capture is that moment of light, before it slips away,
and abstract it into planes, colours, converging lines. In this
way, it is somehow distilled, giving the viewer a chance to
reflect upon its essence. Quite simply, I am moved by light and
I hope
to move others by it. |
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| Katherine Lubar, 2002 | ||
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| Prison Series (2000) | ||
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In
the past year, I have become increasingly drawn to images of prisons
in my subject matter. Initially, this was due to their appearance
- the repetition of bars and the shadows of bars create amazing
patterns which can be emphasized using flat colour and a rushing
perspective. The bars create structure as well as a sense
of differing spaces within the same area. |
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On
a more philosophical level, the prisons are not real prisons, but
prisons of our mind. None of us are totally free, as we live in
a society with many rules and constraints. These rules and constraints have
become a part of us – we no longer see them as things outside of
ourselves. Much of what we think has been dictated to us by the world around us – parents,
school, TV, magazines, movies, etc. If we like or
approve of something, a lot of this has to do with the fact that society
likes and approves of it. It is very difficult, maybe impossible, to know what is
from us and what has been subconsciously dictated to us bysociety. Perhaps
there is no ‘us’ (or ‘I’) at all. |
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I
am also interested in issues of control. We are all controlled to a greater
or lesser extent by the world around us and for those
who are in prison, this
is merely made more obvious. Not that I am trivialising the horrors
that go on in prison, but there, people realise they are being controlled;
that is the whole point. Out in the ‘free’ world, we are
controlled every day of our lives, often by our own subconscious fears,
yet we do not
usually realise this or admit to it. These prison paintings can
be looked at as reflections of what goes on in our minds. The traps we
set for ourselves
and
the obstacles that we may or may not overcome. The
endless corridors with no exit. The locked gates without keys.
However, the light which is present in each painting can be seen as an
element of
hope and freedom. It is a way out. This light is the key to unlocking
our souls. |
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Katherine Lubar, 2000 |
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| Negative Space, Light Patterns and Shadows (1999) | ||
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In
these works, I seek to explore the different methods of visual perception
which exist just beneath the surface of our common visual reality.
I look at reflections, shadows, light patterns and negative space,
which are all a part of our everyday visual experience,
yet remain for the most part, ignored. I choose to focus on these entities
as my subject matter, making
them the main characters in their own stories. Obviously they are fictionalized
to some extent, as no shadow is really that sharply defined
and no negative space so playfully coloured. However, by exaggerating
their details, I hope to show how beautifully striking these
marvels of nature can be, if one only takes time to look at them. |
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To
me, negative space, light patterns and shadows are just as important
as the physical space they inhabit. If we are looking around us, our
eyes cannot feel the difference between what is physical and
what is intangible.
It is only because we have been trained all our lives to know that
we can put our hand through a shadow but not a wall that we ascribe
a certain importance to the wall and not the shadow. In a painting,
a shadow has the same tangibility as a wall, no matter how
dexterously an artist creates an illusion with paint. Shadows and
walls are made of the same substance. |
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As
to how these subjects are portrayed, I have become more and more interested
in their formal elements, such as their
geometrical shapes and patterns. I have also become increasingly
interested in colour and have
shifted completely away from naturalistic colour towards very bright,
unnatural colours. In most of the paintings, especially the more recent
ones, I have used colour as a means of expressing light. However,
each painting is completely different in its own right, with
its own ideas and type of abstraction. |
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I
hope that some of the intentions I have expressed here have been achieved
in these works. |
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| Katherine Lubar, 1999 | ||
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