Imagination is
the essence of creativity, skill and technique the cornerstone of its
application. Through both these means artists endeavour to express themselves from
the inside out. Many eloquent things can be said about an artist and their work
but as artists the process is a simple one - they paint what moves
them and hope that it will move others. A work of art
carries within it the energy with which it was produced, whether this is
inspired beauty or contained rage.
Truly great works of art throb with palpable
life like De Koonings' abstract works that open like doorways into endless
fields of light. True art can never really be possessed, the object perhaps but
not the art - that can only be experienced through the emotions where a
relationship occurs between the inspired work and the viewer. Thank God for our
Galleries and Museums and the generous patrons who support these glorious
institutions where such relationships are encouraged to flourish. As Byron said " to have joy one must
share it." So too for art to be realized it must also be shared.
For nearly ten
years now Susie Sierra has explored the theme of nature, most specifically, flowers. A
flower emits profound silence and draws intimately upon the emotions. Through
their short, sweet existence they reveal the mutability of life in its many
facets. In the face of nature, in its most refined, decaying and delicate
state, one can traverse regions of profound subjectivity. Abstract art has
always held the throne for themes of the deepest and most spiritual meanings
but the deepest feeling is an abstraction in its own right. Consider the
possibility that the abstraction lies not in the work so much as in the
response to it.
Few artists
choose - most are chosen, for who would wittingly choose such a lonely
existence?
Heightened sensitivities
often necessitate the quiet withdrawal from the mainstream of life and so an
artist lives in the margins, always the observer, seeing deep and far.
Inspired by Tim Maguire's loose-wash flower
paintings, Sierra has taken this post-renaissance theme and produced these
highly detailed works, reflecting the attention to detail for which the Dutch
painters of the 17th century were so renowned. The intimacy
expressed through the inclusion of the small and delicate flowers reveal the
relationship between beauty, light and the transient state in which we all
exist. Our modern world increasingly reveals to us just how real this is.
Transposed into a contemporary context
but still retaining the feeling of the past, each work is an invitation to
contemplation. Here we find a salute to history and in these modern times where
efficiency and minimalism are so questionably admired it is refreshing to
discover an artist with such highly developed technical skills, imagination and
intellect. This is definitely an artist to invest in for the future.
- John Bradley
(art critic and judge)
IMAGE:
Susie Sierra
Sentient
oil on linen
102 x 168cm
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