In my painting, I often attempt to revise ideas or ambitions that have been lost over time, using a sort of restorative nostalgia. I am interested in both the transformative quality of paint and of the paintings themselves. I try to create new visual experience through the juxtaposition of historical and contemporary source material.
My practice has investigated the dissonance between architectural structures and the surrounding world. I explored the architecture of abandoned buildings, including 1930s Italian architecture, North American resort complexes, Victorian hospitals, and Lidos. My research includes drawing upon my travels, photographic resources and holiday brochures. It is through this understanding of the political and historical context of these environments that that I can begin to construct my abstracted images of nostalgia, and fleeting moments of existence.
It interested me that Gainsborough was forced by financial need to paint wealthy patrons, whereas his writings show he had a deep desire to paint landscapes. I feel this is apparent from studying his paintings in depth; therefore, I am now transforming figurative elements of Gainsborough portraits into landscapes. For example, re-inventing drapery as snowdrifts.
LOUISE THOMAS
Rebecca Wilson
Louise Thomas layers different paints onto the canvas – gesso, oil, household paint - and then carefully brushes away using white spirit. The visible traces of this process resonate with her subject matter – in this case, Marie-Antoinette’s derelict bedroom at Versailles. Her works create a dialogue in paint, mirrored by her juxtaposition of historical, contemporary and imagined locations. Like an archaeologist, Thomas excavates the urban environment, exploring its hidden memories, signs of a past regime or way of life. She was shortlisted for the 4 New Sensations Prize in October 2007.
francesca anfossi & louise thomas
Private View: Thursday 26 June - 6-9pm
Exhibition: 27 June – 26 July
BISCHOFF/WEISS is pleased to present Sunspot Mirage, an exhibition of work by Louise Thomas and Francesca Anfossi.
The paintings of Louise Thomas concern themselves with the dissonance between architectural structures and the surrounding world. Relying upon a broad reference base, the artist draws from her own travels as well as holiday brochures and photographic resources. With these images as a starting point, she seeks to excavate the architecture of abandoned resort sites, including 1930s Italian nationalist-socialist architecture, North American resort complexes, Victorian hospitals, and Lidos. Her painterly brushstrokes highlight an abstracted sense of nostalgia and the failed space of holiday paradise. Through the haunted stillness of her canvases, the artist attempts to ameliorate dystopian spaces by allowing a new visual experience through the juxtaposition of historical and contemporary sites.
The references made by Louise Thomas to leisure sites and Italy is echoed in the work of Francesca Anfossi, who originates from a popular Italian tourist town. Anfossi seeks to amplify the often-overlooked subtleties in naturally occurring scenes. Through the use of collage (sculpture, paint and video), the viewer is lead through a journey of imaginary landscapes. Drawing from her collection of kitsch postcards and travel memorabilia as inspiration, the artist uses a diverse range of materials to make installations that combine images of the spaces of recreation along with that of everyday life. Acting as souvenirs, the objects and images prompt an internal remembrance of experiences, rather than reproducing the actuality of an event. The artist’s installation, created especially for this exhibition, directs the viewer through the space and thus the interaction with the work becomes as important as the memories which she attempts to provoke.
Through similar structures and shapes, and despite visually distinct results, both artistsexplore sites and experiences of perceived paradise. While Thomas conflates her fragmented images in paint and Anfossi builds up an environment through collage, each artist attempts to reclaim memories and capture fleeting moments of existence.
Louise Thomas is a recent graduate of University College Falmouth. In October 2007, she was short listed for the 4 New Sensations Art Prize, hosted by the Saatchi Gallery and Channel 4. Group shows include Concrete Hole You Clench my Soul, PZ Gallery, Penzance (2007), a self-curated group show and Second X-Posure Present ‘Revolver’, PZ Gallery, Penzance (2007), an artist curated project featuring the works of established and emerging artists. In 2007 the artist was also short-listed for the Celeste Painting Prize.
Francesca Anfossi is a graduate of Middlesex University and is currently completing her M.A. in Painting at the Slade School of Art. Her work has been exhibited widely in a number of group shows, both in Britain and abroad. These include Soul Stripper, Brussels (2008), Suburbia, Foreign Press Association, London (2008), Trace, Frankfurt (2007), Picture This, Scarlet Maguire Gallery, London (2007), Kurzfilmsalon 1.1, Vienna (2007), SV06, Studio Voltaire, London (2006), and Arte Spazio Contemporaneo 1, Milan (2005).
For further information please call 020 7033 0309 or email info@bischoffweiss.com
BISCHOFF/WEISS
95 Rivington Street
London EC2A 3AY
Open Wednesday to Saturday 11am – 6pm and by appointment.
Sunrisewithseamonsters, 2007
"Louise Thomas is influenced by contemporary tourist architecture and The Mirage celebrates the banality of the resort with a “tropical palette,” created by colour-sampling children’s chalks. Liminal confusion in the painting is heightened by the layering of architectural and “natural” motifs. Palm fronds, fountains and rainbow stripes are described with loose relish and the generic facades are washed with the colours they aspire to."
Megan Wakefield, a freelance writer living in Cornwall.
Sunrise with seamonsters at Trinity Buoy Wharf.
June 28th - 4th July 2007
Trinity Buoy Wharf, Docklands, London
"The savvy students recently graduated from Bath Spa University and Fine Art at University College Falmouth in Cornwall have brought their degree shows to London, and both are opening tonight. 'Vitamin B' offers the chance to see the work of 50 emerging artists from Bath Spa, whilst 'Sunrise with Sea Monsters' showcases the work of 19 graduates from Falmouth. At each show you'll find an eclectic mixture of painting, sculpture, photography and video...
...Bringing young blood from Cornwall to the heart of the city, 'Sunrise with Sea Monsters' also reflects the breadth of contemporary practice: sculpture, drawing, painting, printmaking, film, sound and installation.
Cat Bagg constructs large-scale paper and cardboard models of household rooms which she photographs at each stage before creating animations out of each frame; in her paintings Louise Thomas explores 'the banality of the holiday resort'; and Poppy Jones makes life-sized prints of places always perceived through a screen or seen through glass, such as train windows or museum dioramas."
Posted by editorial on June 28, 2007
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