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Notes

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Gwen Hardie: 'The surface of the human body is an amazing membrane. It bears witness to the person living inside; an independent individual and yet closer inspection of the skin reveals that the body is made up of moving elements that are universal and part of the greater natural world. The question of how to represent the human body in art and painting is central to my work. Using rigorous oil-painting techniques that recall classical painting, I apply a conceptual focus to the representation of the figure. Rather than creating a likeness of a particular person or depicting a narrative between characters, the illusion I present of the figure is simply a small portion of skin, magnified and extending beyond the edges of the picture frame. I choose to paint from life under natural light so that I can record the subtle blends of cool and warm hues that sunlight reveals on surfaces and depths.