Viva Lewes Issue #134 November 2017

ON THIS MONTH: ART
Focus on: Sea Painting, Birling Gap, 2017
By Jessica Warboys, 200cm by 550cm
It was in 2009 when I made my first sea
painting. I was spending time in Falmouth,
Cornwall, moving around a lot and without
a studio. Having worked with film and
performance previously I had the urge to
make a painting on a theatrical scale, where
the performance was literally embedded in
the surface of the piece. An autonomous,
expanding, portable work – which was possible
to make without a fixed space.
I make the paintings at the sea shore. I
submerge large canvases in the sea and then
cast mineral pigments directly onto the
sea soaked surface. For me the paintings
capture something specific to the place of
making: the changing elements and shifting
variables such as the sand or gravel, and
the season all shape the painting. Working
intuitively in a direct way in unpredictable
conditions gives the work an energy or
urgency that becomes the surface.
I usually choose quiet beaches that I can
go to early in the morning. Birling Gap
felt like being on a stage with the white
cliffs closing off the beach. The descent to
the beach made an impression on me; like
entering a strange kind of arena. The point
between the shore and the sea is always a
fascinating space in which to become immersed
or entangled.
This sea painting forms part of
ECHOGAP which comprises painting,
sculpture, film, sound and light. The sea
painting acts as a vista amongst sculptural
works. The painting was also the beginning
of conversations around the show at
Towner Gallery and the motivation for
a particular grouping of recent and new
works.
Each sea painting is an individual work
but they have begun to make a kind of
abstract map or journey when a group of
paintings from different coasts have been
collaged together.
As told to Lizzie Lower
Sea Painting, Birling Gap, 2017 will be on
show at Towner Gallery until February 4th
2018 as part of a ECHOGAP.
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