| In the studio |
Georgina Clapham
🎀👠💗🛼
February, 2023
What are you working on right now?
G.C.: I am currently in Los Angeles preparing a new body of paintings of various sizes some of which will be included in a group show here in March. I am reflecting on what it means to be a woman today; particularly the symbols and ideals we carry with us, that are influenced by the media, our cultural history, spirituality, and our own self-expression. These new paintings flow from darkness to light and humour and are informed both by my own experiences and fantasies.
Accessories such as designer bags and shoes double up as the armour that we choose to protect us, by displaying our economic status, and contributing to our sense of sexual agency and feminine power.
How did the idea for the creation begin, what references (moodboard) did you use?
G.C.: I am interested in subverting stereotypes in my work, but I wanted to look at my own identity and things that affected it by exploring notions of femininity in the collective consciousness of the West, in a way that is both celebratory and tongue-in-cheek. Fashion and accessories remain a focus for me, why we dress in a particular way and what influences us towards constant self-improvement. Accessories such as designer bags and shoes double up as the armour that we choose to protect us, by displaying our economic status, and contributing to our sense of sexual agency and feminine power. I reference British fashion designers who have been the tastemakers of my generation, we are drawn to the fact that these objects are imbued with a kind of mysticism that separates them from the realm of the everyday and propels them to cult status. This is echoed in their centrality to the identity of today’s ever self-critiquing, brand obsessed ‘it girl.’
I have taken inspiration from female characters in films such as ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ 1939, to ‘Clueless,’1995, alongside Renaissance paintings from the Early Modern European period and my own photographs or videos. Since Covid restrictions lifted I have been travelling a lot, like most people I take pictures everywhere I go, it’s surprising how this has fed into my image making. Often, I am reminded of problematic stereotypes, like those in European fairy tales that have been passed down through generations.
For example, why do we see blondes as sexualised or innocent and condemn age or diversity – we still have a long way to go!
Cover of the book by Marina Warner “From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers” 1995
In the book ‘From the Beast to the Blonde,’ 1995, Marina Warner explores the history and meaning of such contradictions and more recent clever subversions that I keep coming back to. Animals are a big feature in such moral tales, particularly spirit animals or guides. I use many creatures in my work to relate to specific psychological states or personalities. Be it the lapdog or the snake they hold a mirror to who we expect the female protagonist to be.
In my current work in progress, ‘Venus and Mars,’ inspired by Botticelli, I am replacing the Greek goddesses of love and war with a forest vanitas still life and signifiers of a young man and woman in courtship. I often use the juxtaposition of the artificial and natural world, something which brings me closer to my roots growing up in the Dorset countryside. I like the idea of the forest animals getting their hands on the contents of someone’s handbag in Chelsea, besides no matter who we are in life we all go back to nature eventually, maybe it’s a sort of memento mori.
Painters who have most inspired me in my recent work include surrealist Leonor Fini, 1907- 1996, Tamara de Lempicka, 1898 – 1980, Karen Kilimnik, b.1955 and Goya’s 1797–1798, ‘Los caprichos.’
How does the work process usually go and what are the stages?
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- Georgina’s pencil sketch for Rodeo Drive
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- Rodeo Drive, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm, 2022
G.C.: I begin working from my imagination, using automatic drawings, meditating, and seeing what comes through, the paintings grow and evolve out of simple sketches. I will then make a series of more precise colour drawings substituting different symbols and colours until I am happy with the composition, although sometimes it changes along the way. I add things to the story/canvas as I go and am conscious of colour symbolism historical and gendered; in each detail I am looking to add meaning into the painting, which falls back to my love of stories.
After the initial drawings, I work straight onto the primed linen with thinned oils to make an underpainting but after this no painting has the same approach. I learned my technique through a meticulous study and love of Old Master works.
I wanted to make my paintings feel timeless in a classical way. Now I try to disrupt this process as much as possible so that there is a tension between old and new, a slippage, which I think lends itself to the increasing surreality of my paintings, I’m not quite sure what will come up, I want them to be as free as possible both in subject matter and technique.