Gillian Carnegie (b. 1971)

The Turner Prize nominated Gillian Carnegie is recognised as one of the leading lights in the reinterpretation and return to painting in contemporary British art. In Untitled, 2002, the energy and apparent spontaneity of the brushstrokes which compose the background elides the central subject; creating a complex structural tension, as the gaze is drawn inwards to the work’s centre, which seems threatened by dissolution. The passages of Carnegie’s impasto, at once precise and luscious, then sketched and lightly applied, are testament to the artist’s virtuoso handling of her medium. Her work demonstrates both her impressive technical ability and the innovative framework within which it is employed.  For Andrew Wheatley, ‘She works in traditional genres - landscape, still life, portraits - but what she does is unload and reload them. That complexity becomes visceral, their physical nature is quite compelling. And there's pleasure to be had from them, too.’ (A. Wheatley, quoted in ‘Gillian Carnegie: Flower Power’, The Independent, 4 June 2005). Untitled calls to mind Robert Delauney’s First Disk, or Jasper John’s Targetpaintings, but there is a restraint to Carnegie’s reinterpretation of the motif; the colours tease, but stop just short of unrestrained vivacity. The impact of the subject matter is tempered by the dissolution of form. Carnegie’s interpretation is enigmatic, and begs further inspection; perhaps the defining feature of her oeuvre, which belies first impressions, revealing its complexity and beauty with increasing clarity through repeated interaction.