C H L O E   W I L S O N

B O D I E S  

(2013)

 

The following series of paintings represents my first serious exploration of nude bodies as subject matter. At first, bodies seem to exist solely as physical objects. They are physical records of personal histories, literally bearing the marks of time and experience. These markers are visible and quantifiable, such as wrinkles, scars, discolorations or bruises. Bodies are also culturally symbolic objects – they are gendered, sexualized, categorized, and politicized. As such, bodies are these sort of vessels of tangible information. If you know what to look for, you can gather a lot of data simply by looking at a body. That being said, the idea of a solely physical and objectified body is a deceitful one. Because ultimately, bodies are also physical sites of the intangible. They may carry material information, but they also carry the abstract – the interior emotional world, and all the complex immaterial that is the self. These paintings represent my exploration of this nebulous space where the concrete meets the abstract. I was interested in the ways that these two oppositional forces are bound up in each other. My process of creating paintings has a lot to do with the build up of physical surface. Acrylic paint was applied in many layers, sanded away and then reapplied – thus creating many layers of information for the viewer. The bodies themselves were painted next, only to be abstracted through the use of dividing lines and blocks of color.