Sharon James
Becoming a mother of 3 in my mid forties prompted a significant change in my practice. I became curious about my own black heritage and identity. I am concerned with the legacy I’ll leave my children. I want to document aspects of their lives and my own to help them understand their place in the world. My studio time can vary from 2 hours to 20 hours a week and the mental transition from mum to artist can be problematic. The two themes within my paintings are autobiographical and abstract. Working abstractly alongside my figurative painting. Strengthens my understanding of paint as a medium and painting. Helping me to uncover what is important. How to better communicate more with less. I’ve been making self-portraits for 2 years. ‘Conversations with Family Passed and Present’, was a natural development. It began as the quest to find myself in the faces of my family. I didn't realise it would become more than that. Painting family has meant, introspection, reflection and retrospection. I see the characteristics that we share, is there more? Painting them enables new dialogues to take place. It is a reconnection. Bringing forgotten memories and relationships back into my life. It's very emotive. My abstract work is more experimental, playful even. Investigating the correlation between colours, shape and form. My focus alternates between colour, paint, texture and quality of line. Exploiting a simple repeated motif lets me focus on the composition. Creating compositions with no recognisable visual anchors. Investigating light, opacity and translucency. Relishing the incidental colours that occur when colours overlap. My experience in graffiti art is echoed in my current colour palette and how I apply paint. Music is an integral part of my process; each painting has its own soundtrack. I see these paintings as visual dances.
