Synapse Festival | Artists | Antonia Hadjicosta

My work is based on how someone can value the idea of presenting two different worlds together, on different paintings. I am interested in how people that suffered from catastrophic events can be presented with people that just live an ordinary life. The use of photographic images is a key element to my work. I am working through material that I find in newspapers, internet research and from my personal environment to represent a sense of happiness and sorrow. Looking into the work of Peter Doig helped me understand how many different images can be put together and how I can experiment with the use of space in the paintings. I am interested in his use of lurid colours that cooperate with his mysterious paintings, as well as his handling of the paint that brings forward an abstraction in his paintings.

At the moment I am working on several paintings on which I am exploring the use of paint and structure. In the future I would like to widen up my options by using different technique and materials, like print, collage and sculpture. This will give me the chance to evoke my subject in many ways and represent what I want for the viewers to see. That is why I am looking into the artist Tony Swain, who paints on newspapers and uses collage to represent the events he reads in the news. In addition I am looking into the work of Barnaby Furnas, whose paintings are presented with straight lines, square figures and splashes of paint.

Currently I am exploring the handling of paint by adding layers through the use expressive brushstrokes. My target is to eliminate as many details as I can on the paintings and play more with the representation of the figures and their connection to the background. In addition I am thinking of eliminating all the facial characteristics in my work in order to create a focus only on the body expressions of my figures. The use of quick brushstrokes has helped me be more productive and produce expressive paintings, which take between one to two hours to make. Through researching the handling of paint I am looking into the work of Thomas Eggerer, Jenny Saville and Gideon Rubin.

My paintings at the moment are not finished; this is because I want to keep working on them over and over again. This, I believe, will give me the chance to create layers and connect each painting with the other. In addition I can create one painting over another, which will create revealing strata from the previous painting. The intention of that is to bring out a sense of past or future in the new painting.

I am working on small scale paintings and experimenting with the use of paint, my target is to keep exploring and when I am comfortable enough I would like to try working on larger scale paintings. My main concern is for the audience to understand the conflict that I want to create and see how they will react when they see these two different subjects presented together.

Antonia Hadjicosta | 07928688415 | antonella.hc@hotmail.com