Jessica Douglas
“The work exhibited in the mothermother project brings together two bodies of seemingly disparate practices, one produced soon after my masters degree and my current paintings. The woven plastic work previously exhibited in 2007 provided a source of ideas and a starting point for the recent painting. While the material and processes used (and the time between the production of each iteration of works) render them utterly distinct, both practices rely on the (mostly) circular cell like motif and use of lines to interconnect and to separate these ‘cells’. key ideas of transmission and separation are explored in the paintings using the language of geometric abstraction including visual ambiguity and incompatibility, and again embodied in placing these two practices in the same showing.
An overriding principle of my practice has always been to draw parallels, analogies and make connections; to weave a complicated web of lines running in all directions. This principle runs parallel to the kaupapa of the mothermother project of honouring networks of generations of wahine in the wider art community. Artist Phillipa Blair who invited me into the project mentored me from 1985 when she was my tutor at Elam art school. Phillipa’s drive and determination as a practitioner, mastery as a painter and energy and generosity as a human have continued to be a real inspiration for me. Her invitation to exhibit within this context, and connecting with Natalie who brings life to the project has given me confidence to start making wider art connections in the real world, and build an audience for my work. Inviting Sandra Bushby, who like Philippa I have known since Elam days, gives me the opportunity to weave the familiar into this project. Our long friendship has come full circle to a place where we are both (for the first time at the same time) focusing on our painting practice. My invitation to her is a chance to develop this connection within a professional art arena.
My practice has specifically developed from an interest in the duality of binary relationships and from my use of the circle as a metaphor to reference the transference, seepage and flow between bounded entities. Of particular significance is when two circles overlap in a Venn diagram to show the intersection of separate forms. However the primary circular analogy I use is the cell with its permeable membrane which allows fluids to pass through it in both directions (In the plastic golf balls the holes allow for this transference). These two metaphors are suggesting that although we are separate as individuals or as groups of people, we have of necessity interconnections; that we rely on our interactions with others for our physical and psychological well being and survival.
I use lines for multiple reasons; to seperate or push between two distinct boundaries, to act as a bridge between entities or a device to draw them closer together; as well as to make the space ambiguous by placing the lines under and above entities.
My exploration of depth and dimensionality includes the use of painterly illusion devices of gradients and shadows. These are used in combination with the modernist Bauhaus flat painting techniques of transparency, layering and overlapping; which are used to communicate ideas of proximity and exchange. My use of colour oscillates between the colour harmony and the strident combinations of geometric abstraction, to allude to our closeness/similarity as well as our separation/difference.”
Jessica Douglas x mothermother 2020
Installation view, Hye Rim Lee on the left, Jessica Douglas on the right. Image courtesy of Gareth Moon.
Installation view, Hye Rim Lee on the left, Jessica Douglas on the right. Image courtesy of Gareth Moon
'Shear', 2019, acrylic on canvas, 610 x 460 mm and 'Abridge', 2019, acrylic on canvas, 610 x 460 mm
'Crossover', 2019, acrylic on canvas, 610 x 460 mm
Installation view with et al. video work, 'Look both ways', 2007 plastic 2400 x 2400 x 40 mm (folded)
'Veiled Resistance' 2003, PVC tubing practice golf balls and screw grommets 1600 x 1500 x 40 mm
'Cry Baby', 2004 PVC tubing and syringe 200 x 200 mm
Jessica’s practice investigates the complexity of relationships which are inherently intertwined and interconnected, to acknowledge that we rely on each other for our physical and psychological well being and survival.
She draws on the metaphor of the cell walls semi-permeable membrane to evoke the concept of separation and transmission simultaneously; conveying ideas of transference, seepage and flow between distinct separate entities.
Application of paint brushed on in thin wash overlapping layers illustrate ideas of complex interconnections, proximity and exchange. Lines / edges act as barriers and bridges halting flow while at other times creating connecting channels. Similarly, colour oscillates between oppositional strident combinations of complementary colours and interconnected close colour relationships.
Her practice is a way of questioning a transitional space that evokes an inner world revealing rational and irrational truths. Each painting emerges from the canvas through a meditative and intuitive decision making process.
Jessica has recently held a solo exhibition ‘Cells’ at Northart. She has a Masters of Fine Arts from Auckland University and has received the Sawtell-Turner Painting Prize, the Bickerton-Widdowson Trust Memorial Scholarship, University of Canterbury, and the Joe Raynes Scholarship, University of Auckland. Her work is held in several New Zealand collections.