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Ivory Lamp Mars Vine Bone

Ivory Lamp Mars Vine Bone at Gallery North, Newcastle presented 23 paintings from 1984-2012, including thirteen works since 2008. The exhibition explored the subject of ‘black’ in my work. Black and white comprise the visual, material, conceptual and emotional register from which I investigate presence and absence, light and dark, the visible and invisible in my exploration of still life painting. The exhibition was first staged at Summerfield Gallery, Gloucestershire in 2009 as In the Black, and was re-configured with more recent work for Gallery North. It led to a public symposium on ‘black’ in which I participated with a reading of my essay, Ivory lamp Mars Vine Bone’ and Lisa Milroy In Conversation with Helen Baker. An Arts Council funded publication in colour included documentation on the symposium and exhibition, and my essay. The retrospective structure Ivory Lamp Mars Vine Bone is an innovative approach to curating a solo show to present a range of stylistically diverse work from the past three decades of my practice, underpinned by one particular strand of research. I developed this strategy in 2008 for a solo show on nested images in my paintings, and will use it for future exhibitions.

Ivory Lamp Mars Vine Bone included five wearable paintings from 2011/12 that can either be hung on a wall as object/paintings or worn as garments. This original approach to painting keys my long-standing investigation into the experiential nature of painting, focusing on the relation between looking and making, contemplation and performance. The most recent new use of ‘black’ is evidenced in three Mirror paintings from 2011 that include bone pigment powder, mars black and reflective aluminum acrylic paint and feature a new pictorial motif: a still life figure who explores her presence and identity through a mirror/painting.