ALISON STEWART – painting & collage

Workmen collages

Drawing figures at work on building sites or at the roadside was the stimulus for this body of work. Unlike life drawing, my subjects were in constant movement and were involved in a very physically demanding real life activity. These initial sketches were then developed in the studio using collage.  A distillation rather than an overt simplification of forms occurred and this process  suggested interesting and unexpected relationships between the figures.

Tools

The tools depicted here were all collected from my family’s farm so they refer specifically to those that have worked that land for over a century. Although obsolete, old and of no value they have been kept and I wanted to record them. The subject matter is static in nature but it has a latent energy as we imagine or remember using these tools. In contrast to photographic documentation, painting allows me to create a less ‘accurate’ but more personal interpretation of these objects. ‘Tools: rakes, hoes, brooms, shovels. The superb identity, selfhood of things.’ Sylvia Plath

Chairs

The ubiquitous chair is an object that I am drawn to. My husband, Roland Fraser, collects, repairs and makes chairs and we often discuss their specific characteristics, from proportions and patina to anthropomorphic qualities. This work explores the ways an inanimate object like a chair can indicate certain moods or emotions through a variety of treatments from oil paint to collage.

Exhibition runs until the 17.03.18