Lucy Marks is a contemporary painter working in oil and watercolour whose dynamic compositions communicate the changing energy and movement within the landscape. Her works capture all energies of the land, sea and sky; from wild seas to quiet landscapes. She works directly in the environment and uses these sketches as her primary source back in her studio to develop her work further.
Her fresh and instinctive marks, the juxtaposition of colours and textures, and use of raw materials, convey the physicality of the subject. It is this physicality that encourages viewers to ‘feel’ as opposed to just ‘see’. Viewing the works becomes a sensory and emotional experience, encouraging us to explore our memories and subliminal perceptions of place.
Lucy intentionally removes any indication of representation or figuration in her work, deliberately avoiding traditional associations whether social, cultural or ‘place specific’, commonly used as anchors in landscape painting. The removal of such associations allows both artist and viewer to interpret the works on an unconscious level, without the constraints of the visual politics and the limiting personal beliefs we encounter in every day life.
French Philosopher Jean-Paul Satre suggests that the object of aesthetic appreciation is ‘not the set of material elements of the painting; but rather, the ‘irreal’ content which consciousness forms once the materiality of the work of art is animated through the imagination’. Meaning; it is the imagination and interpretation of both the artist and viewer that are the important elements, rather than just identifying representational places or things in the work. It is this philosophy that drives Lucy’s creative approach. Lucy’s work transcends the static, tangible, one-dimensional image, and offers something much more valuable – an experience.
