SOME ROSES AND THEIR PHANTOMS | 30 APRIL - 4 MAY
PRIVATE VIEW and MEET THE ARTIST'S EVENT | 30 APRIL 6 - 9pm
VENUE | Bermondsey Project Space - London
Florence Reekie in response to the show said 'I understand that Mother of Pearl was often used by the Surrealists as a symbol of enlightenment - This fabric gives a somewhat Mother of Pearl effect so was keen to use it for the show.'
This excerpt from ‘To paint’ (1995) by Dorothea Tanning was also an exciting discovery;'.... Now the doors are all open, the air is mother-of-pearl, and you know the way to tame a tiger. It will not elude you today for you have grabbed a brush, you have dipped it almost at random, so high is your rage, into the amalgam of color, formless on a docile palette'
Reekie is a figurative oil painter from Scotland. Expectation, subversion, and decadence are important themes in Reekie’s work. Her paintings are often contemporary scenes drawing upon classical impressions and techniques. She is interested in developing ideas around perception, iconography and coding within compositions while experimenting with the materiality of paint.
Historically painters have used drapery as a means of bringing being and movement into compositions, by using material and only alluding to the human interaction Florence is able to deal with complicated themes in her work. An interest in drapery as not mere staging for the subject helps her to navigate her pieces. Fabric is often overlooked in both paintings and day-to-day life, simple crumpled laundry highlighted in paint suddenly takes on a new resonance.
In her work to date, she explores troupes of identity, which come from ideas of vanity and how we present authentically. This often leads to historical comparisons and trends or ways in which we attempt to assimilate into society. She looks at the concept of beauty ‘secrets’, the trappings of the ways in which we attempt to make ourselves more desirable or construct our identity and the armours that we choose to do so.