Hi Fashion - PAINTINGS

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The furnishing fabrics are used as a found material to which a response is made. The patterns, textures and colours of the chosen fabrics are suggestive of British female taste in home decoration, therefore to complement and expand on the theoretical possibilities for the artworks images of simplified flowers and stylised outlines of female figures have been layered on top. Both flowers and the female shape add sensual, organic and curvaceous, as well as sharp, vibrant and striking lines. The female figure is a prominent and well-used subject within Western painting and 'Hi Fashion' attempts to recreate the female figure in relation to theories and concerns of pattern and decoration instead of issues that usually address the intellectual appeal of subject matter. The connotations that the fabrics imply alongside the iconic female fashion images determine the composition and therefore the dynamic of the painting.

The style of drawing used controls the spontaneity of paint to draw attention to the pattern of the fabrics. The end result contains untouched elements of the original material therefore it is possible for the paintings to link directly with the same textiles used to cover furniture or to dress a window. The untouched areas of the fabric are important as they question the traditional approach to painting and perspective. Combining painting and textiles within a fine art context questions the traditional approach to painting by embracing beauty, pattern, stylisation, hybridism, and issues of taste.