Just Lay III, 2018
Oil on paper
59.4 x 84.1 cm
Just Lay III are a series of paintings and experiments resulting alongside the study into varying forms of the implementation of simplification within the genre of portraiture and figurative art. The study’s focus was on artists who take their subject matter and dissect what they feel to be the most fundamental elements for their own conceptual and/or aesthetic intents. In the case of Just Lay III, simplification is being implemented as a reaction towards the growing complexities present in our generation due to its increasing fast pace.
The figures are rendered through linear suggestive strokes taking the lines’ weight and tone into visual consideration, fusing together the practice of drawing and painting. The line has a subtle irregularity and shakiness, embodying the fragility of the work’s theme. The figure’s poses exhibit this acceptance to ‘just lay’ a state of being that sounds simple in thought, but is paradoxically hard to reach in practice. The artistic process taken also channels such conflicts, with the seemingly simple aesthetic, being contrarily complex to reach. The pose, visual weight and purity aim to capture an element of surrender, this idea of being uncomfortably comfortable, with importance being given to the contentment of simply laying.