Painting Experiments

As I was developing my ideas for the Winter Cabaret, I decided to make some smaller experimental paintings on card. These paintings were, in part, inspired by my trip to the Picasso museum in Malaga. Seeing his works up close flooded me with the urge to create in a way that was free and led by raw emotion. This is very different from my usual way of painting, where I tend to overwork my pieces and not know when to stop. Despite their beauty, there was something terrible about his paintings of women, a relentless violence in every mark he made. It felt brutal, animal, like he painted with a lust for cruelty. I started to think about masculinity, how much it scared me as a child. My relationship with the male figures in my life was turbulent back then, though better now. And in the area I lived, male violence was everywhere. And so, I decided to paint. To me, these tigers are a defense against this violence. They protect, empower and guide. Interestingly, Picasso’s style was heavily influenced by African art, especially tribal masks. These masks often held deeply spiritual meanings: they were worn during celebrations, as well as by warriors, used to ward away evil spirits and to seek blessings over the land and the people, and to communicate between the dead and the living. I think that these pieces resonate with this human need for guidance and protection from sources outside of ourselves.