Hoist
Often working with humble materials, Lydia Gifford endows her paintings with a sculptural presence. Using composite media, the artist often mixes pieces of fabric or natural substances such as wax or clay with her pigments, creating effects that are both tactile and pictorial. The eye beholds textures ranging from coarse to smooth, humid, chalky and tender. Viewers can sense the movement of the body and detect the traces of improvised gestures carried out by the artist. Thus, Gifford’s work contains the energy of an impulse absorbed by painting. The two slightly overlapping panels of Hoist also bear witness to a concern for composition, which here too has less to do with pictorial surface than the physicality of the object.
Exhibition
Lydia Gifford
Born in 1979 in Cheltenham, Royaume-Uni
Née en 1979 à Cheltenham (Royaume-Uni), Lydia Gifford a étudié à la Chelsea School of Art and Design, puis au Royal College of Art. Elle a remporté le Valerie Beston Young Artists’ Prize en 2008. Lydia Gifford vit et travaille actuellement à Londres.