The Familiar Unfamiliar Landscape of Home
760 x 760
Mixed Media - Paint, dress patterns, graphite, charcoal, metallic foil
Initially, this painting took its direction from some pattern pieces that were lined with blue, rather than the typical black markings. The blue reminded me of English Wedgwood porcelain (fine china) in the ‘Willow’ pattern, a Chinese-style design.
The art of “Chinoiserie” is defined as the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions. I suspect the copying of this Asian style was due to a love of the romantic ideal of the exotic, an appreciation of something that wasn’t understood culturally but was nonetheless valued for its decorative beauty. A form of flattery perhaps rather than direct appropriation.
There is a wooden storage box I’ve inherited which sits proudly in my lounge. It was given to Mum by her parents (my Grandad and Grandma) when she was 21. My Grandad would garden and make us toys, Grandma would sew the dollhouse curtains and ice her baked cakes with a particular squiggly pattern. They were very English. They called the wooden storage box “The Chinese Chest”.
As a kid, I was very taken with the carved figures, stylised trees, and tall ships that permanently leaned into the wind with billowing sails. The scenes were unfamiliar to me, richly cultural imagery from another place and time (and the dry wood interior and exterior oil polish smelled divine). The men pictured on it that were trading food I think, the boats, trees, flowers, and patterns, didn’t evoke “New Zealand”. But as I grew up with them, their unfamiliarity became familiar.
760 x 760
Mixed Media - Paint, dress patterns, graphite, charcoal, metallic foil
Initially, this painting took its direction from some pattern pieces that were lined with blue, rather than the typical black markings. The blue reminded me of English Wedgwood porcelain (fine china) in the ‘Willow’ pattern, a Chinese-style design.
The art of “Chinoiserie” is defined as the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other East Asian artistic traditions. I suspect the copying of this Asian style was due to a love of the romantic ideal of the exotic, an appreciation of something that wasn’t understood culturally but was nonetheless valued for its decorative beauty. A form of flattery perhaps rather than direct appropriation.
There is a wooden storage box I’ve inherited which sits proudly in my lounge. It was given to Mum by her parents (my Grandad and Grandma) when she was 21. My Grandad would garden and make us toys, Grandma would sew the dollhouse curtains and ice her baked cakes with a particular squiggly pattern. They were very English. They called the wooden storage box “The Chinese Chest”.
As a kid, I was very taken with the carved figures, stylised trees, and tall ships that permanently leaned into the wind with billowing sails. The scenes were unfamiliar to me, richly cultural imagery from another place and time (and the dry wood interior and exterior oil polish smelled divine). The men pictured on it that were trading food I think, the boats, trees, flowers, and patterns, didn’t evoke “New Zealand”. But as I grew up with them, their unfamiliarity became familiar.