Art Exhibition: Painter, Painter: Dan Perfect, Fiona Rae

As makeup students, we need to constantly grasp inspiration from a large variety of sources, and most importantly open up to art that is not only makeup related. Recently, I made a visit to the Southampton City Art Gallery to extend my research on the impact of colour and was drawn towards a series of paintings done by Dan Perfect and Fiona Rae, a married couple who both share a talent for abstract painting. 

The work of both artists were displayed side by side and I was amazed at how the style of each individual seem both conflicting and harmonious, however, there are certainly crossovers in their individual concerns. 

Dan Perfect, 'Laocoon', 2013, oil and acrylic on linen, 183x257cm. Image Copyright Dan Perfect

Dan Perfect's 'Laocoon' is an intense mass of scribbles, brush strokes, glowing spheres and splatters, I find it difficult to focus on any one point of the painting; perhaps because every scribble deserves attention. The potent use of reds and yellows create the illusion of a burning golden sun and a sea of fire and portrays the emotions of anger or burning desire. As Perfect is a contemporary artist, this piece can also be interpreted as the hell we live in today and corrupt society, which is an idea I would like to pursue. 

This piece may appear to be done with a lightening bolt of inspiration within a few hours, however, upon further reading, Perfect uses Adobe Photoshop to create the blueprint of the painting, spending hours upon hours using brush tools and effects. Once the blueprint has been created, he then paints the design onto the canvas. Humorous how technology is used to replicate painting with fingers and hands, only to be replicated again by hand. 

Fiona Rae, 'See your world', 2013, oil and acrylic on canvas, 213.4x175.3cm

Image Copyright Fiona Rae, Courtesy Southampton City Art Gallery

Here you can see that Fiona Rae has vastly different painterly style to Perfect. In this piece we see washes of blues and explosions of colour alongside small cartoonish cute mice/pandas? At this point, I am still mesmerised by how the tones of blue in the background bleed into each other seamlessly and forms shorelines, this attains a very calming property alongside the clouds of white. The explosions of colour in the other hand give the painting interest, the use of cartoon pandas are intriguing and foreign to the rest of the piece, giving an overall fresh quality. 

Having seen both artists work side by side, their is no doubt that Rae has adopted a more feminine palette which the use of cute animals and hearts and Perfect's use of dense urban compositions give a masculine feel. However, there is no competition between the two artists, as the title of the exhibition Painter, Painter suggests both artists are equal.