take a dip...

What contrary creatures we all are.

Wanting what we cannot have.

Wanting to look at that we cannot see.

I was instantly intrigued when I came across images of these Oliver Jeffers "Dipped Paintings" on Pinterest a few weeks ago.

The narrative behind them is even more emotional than I imagined it to be...

At an undisclosed location in Manhatten last November,  Belfast born artist Oliver Jeffers began a series of performances whereby he dipped a series of his fully painted portraits into vast vats of brightly coloured enamel paints.

 This was art that had been created to be hidden, vanishing forever. in a dripping meditation on the theme of loss.

 As Jeffers explained -  It is a process that permanently hides parts of the portrait’s features. I painted the portraits alone in my studio and kept each veiled. Prior to dipping. I never photographed any of the paintings. Therefore, the people present at the time of the performance were the only witnesses to the pre-dipped works. Their testimonies are the sole archives of each portrait’s unobstructed state.

He further explained that the project which will eventually include 25 paintings and a film component to be released this year,was inspired by loss, and the way memory has a way of tricking the bereaved. “Storytelling is the key to immortality,” said Jeffers. “Part of the premise for this whole project is that I lost my mum 14 years ago. One night my younger brother and I were telling a story and we realized we were remembering it completely differently. Memory is an imperfect recording device like that.”

Wether from the top or the bottom the paint creates also serves to create a strange melancholy tension between that which is seen and that which will now forever be obscured...

If this isn't enough to make you reflective this wet and miserable Thursday, I don't know what is...

Queen Marie