Phoebe Unwin (born Cambridge; 1979) studied at Newcastle University and the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. Unwin’s paintings shift between figuration and abstraction creating a personal register of images and marks: observations of reality, constructs of memory or indirect references to particular places and events. Using a variety of media, from oil and acrylic paint to pastel and graphite, Unwin creates playful images, often also filled with a brooding psychological presence.

In Unwin’s new paintings we stumble upon on a figure, or figures, lounging in rustic surroundings. In some images, parts of a body are depicted; a bent elbow and some crossed knees glimpsed through the long grass. These situations, at once commonplace and strange, appear in soft focus, seen through a haze that dissolves the division between the subject and their surroundings. In the process of making the paintings such as Couple paintings Unwin lays flowers to their surfaces, masking areas from the Indian ink which is then airbrushed. The resultant negative silhouettes evoke the process of a photogram and the shapes feel more solidified than the diffuse lines that describe the figures.

Glossary

  • Abstraction

    To abstract means to remove, and in the art sense it means that artist has removed or withheld references to an object, landscape or figure to produce a simplified or schematic work. This method of creating art has led to many critical theories; some theorists considered this the purest form of art: art for art’s sake. Unconcerned as it is with materiality, abstraction is often considered as representing the spiritual.

  • Acrylic

    Modern synthetic paint that combines some of the properties of oils and watercolour. Most are water-based, although some are oil compatible, using turpentine as a thinner. When it became available to artists in America around 1936 it was the first new painting medium in centuries and has become a serious rival to oil paint because of its versatility. Acrylic paints can be used on nearly any surface. The water-based nature of acrylic paint allows for easy application and rapid drying time: acrylic paint dries in a matter of minutes, as opposed to the many months required for oil-based paints. Once the paint has been applied to a surface, the water evaporates, leaving behind the synthetic resin (and pigment), which is no longer water-soluble. Visually, acrylic-based paints can appear to be very similar to oil-based paints, but they cannot rival the rich, translucent nature of oils.

  • Negative

    An image in which colours and shades of an inage are reversed: the light areas of the object appear dark and the dark areas appear light. Also refers to a film, plate, or other photographic material containing such an image.

  • Oil

    A medium in which ground pigments are mixed to produce a paste or liquid that can be applied to a surface by a brush or other tool; the most common oil used by artists is linseed, this can be thinned with turpentine spirit to produce a thinner and more fluid paint. The oil dries with a hard film, and the brightness of the colour is protected. Oil paints are usually opaque and traditionally used on canvas.

  • Pastel

    A drawing medium of dried paste made of ground pigments and a water-based binder that is manufactured in crayon form. The term also refers to a picture or sketch drawn with this type of crayon.