Brooke Fitzsimons
Brooke Fitzsimons is a painter who uses luminous oil paint glazes to create a balance between 2D and 3D; deliberately set up formal oppositions: abstract versus figurative; man-made versus natural; hard-edged versus soft-focused.
Rather than making the painted surface either abstract (all about the painted surface) or figurative (a 'window' into a three dimensional space), her aim is to make the surface appear to be both at the same time; to provoke a 'play' between the two oppositions: so that abstraction and illusion are held in an oscillation, where neither is dominant. Then the surface becomes an active threshold - an equivocal, playful field.
Collecting printed images and her own photographs as references, Brooke starts with a tonal under painting, building up the colour and the images with transparent glazes. Sometimes the tiniest part of an image can be the starting point for a painting. The human figure reduced to a silhouette, linear architectural forms, irregular natural shapes, luminous colours, are all borrowed from and used to represent the physical world. Each layer needs to dry before the next is applied. Careful use of large flat brushes, like the warp and weft of a loom, creates a fabric-like painted surface. Working in layers with simple images allows her to make wholly new compositions. They reflect the beauty of the physical world obliquely, without being too specific.
Her practice is influenced by a former career as a graphic designer in magazine production, knowledge of printing and photographic processes, yet made by hand with the most traditional of mediums - oil paint on linen.
