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What is
initially a bewildering choice of subject matter; Flemish
portraits, medieval landscapes and marine paintings are all
plundered for Hebson’s Grand Mal. By cutting adrift these
simple iconic images from their (art) historical context Hebson
services them for her own ends. Testing the plausibility of
sentiment as a continued convincing subject matter for painting.
These heightened images corralled together begin to suggest
an ambiguous psychological realm.
Painting on copper and zinc with small tentative marks the
paint is worked to a point of fatigue. Weeping doppelgängers
and phantasms of galleons glow and fizz unnaturally in filmic
negative.
Paint blooms like a psychic bruise to obscure and reveal detached
but emotionally charged images. Through the involved (obsessive)
build up of delicate marks these paintings quietly carve out
their own distinct atmosphere. Low-key emblems slow burn,
dimly illuminating a quiet melancholia.
Nadia
Hebson was educated at the Royal Academy Schools. In 2002 she
was appointed painting Research Fellow at UWIC. Past solo shows
include Phantasmagoria at Chapter Gallery Cardiff and
Goria at Transition, London. She now lives and works
in Berlin.
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