ONE PAIR OF FEET

 Each work in the selection box is a unique watercolour, painted over an existing black and white image.  Clare Woods says that she is :  “incessantly fascinated with transforming sculptures into two-dimensional, yet tactile, forms. This piece was inspired by a Georgian etching of carved stone penises; I really wanted to capture the solidity of the three dimensional form within the fluidity of the brushstrokes of the painting, reflecting the qualities of the original sculpture; simultaneously soft, smooth, curvaceous yet firm and tactile.”

Woods is a painter who’s paintings feel very sculptural. They combine a fluidity and confidence of brushstroke and coherence, and a homogeneous surface, from seemingly disparate subject matters, from the bunion specialist, silent German bombs Euardo Paolozzi wax heads, First World War bandage manuals, a bird’s nest, dismembered statues, Louise Bourgeois, 7/7 London bombings to cuckoo feeding patterns. the net for her source material for her latest work appears widely flung.  While the paintings feel resolved and solid there is also a glimmer of uncertainty, a teetering on failure, an anxiety and tension that is ultimately what holds them together and ensures their success.