I didn’t see that coming, 2022
Linda Jamieson's latest body of work spans the worlds between representation and imagination. Her colour pallette has changed to more intense hues to better reflect her thoughts and mood. Her paint application has also become more emphatic, she has developed a graphic style that stems from her years working professionally as a textile designer. She now works with a variety of media including oil and acrylic. Linda says of her new work:
"I use landscape as a stage set with it’s props of plant life, water, weather and topical features as a portal into a space where I can explore technical problems within the limits of two dimensional space.
There is no fixed point of departure and I remain open to sudden changes of direction. I aim to create emotionally charged places that have fragments of memory embedded in them. These ‘memories’ may not be personal but borrowed."
Seasonality is a theme Linda's new work explores to great affect, as one would expect. Sorbet colours herald early spring, denoting hope and expectation as fronds reach up into the sky. Summer heat rises from semi-tropical plants, signs are more ambivalent, as a tangle of vines hang over brighter areas of undergrowth. All is not well in this garden of eden, there is disquiet. Frozen winter landscapes throw clarity on their subject, using sharper contrast, crisp traces of a skaters' blades on ice reveal a more playful mood.
It would be simplistic to dismiss these well-considered landscapes as merely decorative. There is more going on here than that. Each scene makes us question what we might be witnessing. We view personal happiness differently from earlier generations. Closely allied with ideas of personal fulfilment, our capacity for good mental health has been under much greater scrutiny during the Covid pandemic.
Unable to travel, Linda's response to the pandemic was to travel introspectively and to find a way of visualising her emotions to what was happening. In doing so she has unearthed a subject area that comes under a catch all heading 'wellbeing'. A term that permits us to be more attuned to our emotional intelligence as humanity plots its course through the trials the twenty-first century has lined up for us. These clever paintings give a voice to those slightly incoherent internal monologues and lend shape to where we hide our darker feelings that might make us question our resolve or help us to forge ahead. We have a selection of new paintings that continue Linda's work in this direction.
Click here to view more about Linda Jamieson
About the author
Paul Barratt
Paul Barratt started working in contemporary art galleries in 1989, having graduated in Fine Art from Goldmsith’s, London University. He initially worked at Anthony d’Offay Gallery, one of the contemporary art dealers, who dominated the London art market in the 80s and 90s. He was approached by the Lisson Gallery to be gallery manager for the influential art dealer Nicholas Logsdail. This was followed by a short period in New York at Gladstone Gallery, to work for visionary art dealer Barbara Gladstone, working with the artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney.
On his return to London, Paul secured a place on the postgraduate curatorial course at the Royal College of Art, to complete an MA. After graduation in 2001, he worked as an independent curator on several projects in Oslo, London, Brighton and Basel, before joining Paul Vater at his design agency Sugarfree in 2004. He has worked with Paul ever since.
