𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙤𝙧 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚

Image: Karina McLean, Long afternoon, the recipe, 2022. Oil paint and pencil on linen, 35 x 30 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

Karina Beth McLean

Gallery 3

Friday 17 February - Sunday 12 March 2023

Opening Thursday 16 February 2023, 6pm - 8pm

Click here for the opening Facebook Event

Windsor Blue is a series of self-portraits that portray glimpses into the character qualities of resilience and endurance during Covid isolation and lockdown. This was a time of working from home and staying in the same environment, where life slowed down with restrictions. Amid all these difficulties, these paintings depict hopeful glances of cooking for friends and family. Cooking became an antidote to the stress and anxiety of the period, it manifested kindness and resulted in the blessing of others.

Each artwork was painted from the same perspective in the dining room, capturing the figure at work preparing recipes. This repetition of place speaks to the passing of time and the repetitive experience of lockdown. Brush marks of thick, opaque paint were built up slowly. Each mark records a moment of being and experience. The paintings convey ‘simply being’ and working, through dappled skin representation and slowly making brush marks scratch onto the surface of the linen.

The works have a raw and stripped back quality to them: thick layers of oil paint contrast with passages of untouched linen background. Descriptive pencil line often acts to connect the two areas. As a result, the images have a hopeful and fleeting feeling to them, capturing the accumulation of many small moments of resilience during the Covid Lockdown.

𝗠𝟭𝟲 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗴𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗡𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗶 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.
𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀. 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 ‘𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲’ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. 𝗦𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱.