Concepts

Initial thoughts on how to show juxtaposition and power in paintings...

• Colour - sugary/soft against dark/inky
• Brushstrokes - smooth/rough, bold/weak
• Reflection - multiples - mirrors/magnifying glasses/microscope/glass
• Objects - playful, childlike
• Animal symbolism - pets, birds, free/caged
• Coloured decandent/sparse
• Swarm/plague - butterflies, birds, insects - crowded, claustrophobic
• Surface - glaze, layers, thick, dense
• Expression - smiling/twisted,watchful
• Background taking over image - sucked in, enveloped, alive
• 'Like a painting' image of Lily in NPG
• Birds, insects - what do they represent? flight, feathers, armour, hiding, carnival, masking
• Circus performers, freak shows - grotesque curiosity
• Growth, bearded woman, deformity, midget, giant, siamese twins, animal man, rubber man
• Scale - image within the painting frame
• Figures confrontational - abandonned toys or party hats link with Annette Messager
• Sexual power
• Manipulative position or expression
• Strong colour
• Posture
• Viewpoint - figure looking down on or up to viewer