PRESS RELEASE
ERIN CHAPLIN: Island
Nov 9 – Nov 26, 2022
Everard Read Cape Town is pleased to present: Island, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Erin Chaplin.
Artist statement:
How to paint wind?
In summer this year, I started this body of work while on a residency in Sintra, Portugal. Although not on an island, I spent almost all my time alone in the heat. I spend a lot of my time on my own. Though it suits me well, days without any human contact can be quite isolating. I felt it. The old familiar loneliness. Almost pleasant.
Battling to do more than begin, I decided to let more familiar things lead me. I was in Paris for a week before Sintra, and had been quite taken with three artists. Andre Derain’s colour, Paul Cezanne’s shapes and Chaim Soutine’s movement.
In Sintra, I then focused on these three qualities which I had found desirable. I was alone and I could do whatever I liked, even if it didn’t make sense. Colours in a still life or landscape were instinct. Shadows and wind also interested me. I so badly wanted you to feel the wind I felt in me while in these landscapes. There are hints of this in the painted clouds and trees.
The paintings I made ended up being still lifes, landscapes and abstracts. There is an air of fantasy in the work. I think being in this strange place surrounded by nature gave me permission to build my own world the way I saw it, with no one viewing or analysing over my shoulder.
When I got back to Cape Town I started making larger abstracted work. These paintings look like dreams to me or images seen in clouds. Maybe something even spiritual. The lines begin to blur. There is less colour blocking. More movement. I was painting feeling again.
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Installation images by Mike Hall
