In the Summer of 2021 I went to see the retrospective of Eileen Agar’s artwork at The Whitechapel Gallery in East London. Subtitled ‘Angel of Anarchy’ this was a captivating exhibition of a lifetime of experimental art by Agar (1899-1991), a British painter, born in Argentina, who was associated with the Surrealist movement.
Whilst flowers were not her subject matter – except perhaps as a secondary element in her abstract paintings, adding shape and colour – what has stayed with me from the exhibition is her experimental use of mixed media – colllage, graphite, paint, pastels – and her interesting layering of colours and textures which create exciting contrasts.
I bought the ‘Angel of Anarchy’ exhibition catalogue and I keep returning to it to remind myself that I want to loosen-up with my painting a bit! Whilst I want to capture the detail of the flowers, I also want to have more texture and colour contrasts and areas of the paintings that are less tight, and more ‘rough’. Like Agar herself says:
‘I have spent my whole life in revolt against convention, trying to bring colour and light and a sense of the mysterious to daily existence. One must have a hunger for new colour, new shapes, and new possibilities of discovery.’
Unfortunately, I seem to get too caught up in the details and I often overwork my paintings, not knowing when to stop!
I have started 6 more flower paintings and I am attempting to be more experimental, quicker and loose in the way that I work. I will share my progress in the next post…
50 Flowers for 50 Charities 