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new statement

Claire’s paintings have an introspective quality; textural surfaces are juxtaposed

with smooth planes and grazes in the surfaces, creating a spatial ambiguity and dynamic reminiscent

of abstract expressionism and the ideas of Clement Greenberg. The work evades categorisation

here however since although the artist has a strong desire to control meaning, there is a

deference to post structuralism and deconstruction in that the subject invites indeterminate interpretation.

There is an integrity within the mark making and a quality of line attained by a measured,

controlled approach, marks are excavated from the existing paint surface rather than being superimposed upon it.

An attention to the quality and detail of surface achieved by the repeated application and

removal of many layers of paint results in much of the content of the work being the

visible evidence of the process itself. The work ‘becomes’ which references itself, it opens and closes space.

‘Aesthetic value and meaning are no longer seen to be the products of the operations of a system,

and have become fleeting and unstable phenomena, which can never be

recaptured or even properly communicated.

They must always be considered to be in the process of ‘becoming’, instead of being directed towards a prearranged goal.’

Stuart Sim

The square holds a mythical symbolism within the history of modern painting;

it is also a rejection of the precise definition of the aesthetic as described by the Fibbonacci Series

or the Golden Section. Each work deliberately relates mathematically to the square,

informed by the work of Robert Ryman and Josef Albers among others -

exploring the tensions created within via the demarcation of the space.

‘The chief forms of beauty are order, symmetry and definiteness’

Aristotle

This self-referential structure is a tool with which the artist limits the breadth of content within the work,

aspiring to a specific aesthetic experience.

‘I paint without representational object’

Agnes Martin

‘A feeling of exquisite intelligibility and clarity we have in the presence of an object that is experienced with aesthetic intensity’

Clive Bell

The artist aims further to constrain interpretation by maintaining a severely selective palette,

essentially monochromatic and either positive or negative, colour is restricted to hues relating to the

materials with which the work is constructed i.e. the wood and linen, the work again referencing itself.

The intention is to control the potentially decorative, distracting aspect of colour, to emphasise the subject of the work.

A particular management of space, light, colour and texture within a rigid self-referential structure,

in order to provoke a subtle resonance, eliciting an arresting,

beatific but deliberately detached relationship with the viewer, unique to the work of this artist.

The sum of these factors is an underlying sense of internal space.

The apparent certainty of the modernist imagery and precision of the picture planes create a relentless,

repetitive architecture, undermined in an acutely reserved manner by the more organic surfaces and paint effects in

‘a search for aesthetic rightness”.

Tim Marlow

This becomes more apparent upon closer examination, conspiring to direct the audience towards a state of contemplation.

An enigmatic sense of presence is evoked that gives rise to a meditative quality,

a serenity and tranquillity, in dissonance with a sense of disturbance of the surface plane of the painting and the internal space of the viewer.