'MONSTER FIELD' CLARE WOODS at Stuart Shave / Modern Art, LDN, 4 Sep - 4 Oct

Exhibition Description:

Stuart Shave / Modern Art presents an exhibition of new large scale enamel on aluminium works by the British painter Clare Woods. This is her third solo show with the gallery. A horizon-like painting from which the show takes its name, forms the centrepiece of the exhibition. It comprises seamlessly joined panels, and is over 7 metres in length.

'Monster Field' is painted in deep dark enamel tones, that draw the viewer into its surface, only to find themselves being confronted by their own reflection. The painting traverses one entire wall from end to end and possesses a presence that Woods describes as "sculptural...", in that "the viewer cannot absorb the surface in one take."

Description:

Image: Clare Woods
Monster Field, 2008
Enamel and oil on aluminium
6x panels 4 x 9ft each
Courtesy the artist and Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London
Copyright Clare Woods, 2008

Throughout this exhibition Woods has depicted scenes of depopulated spaces with overgrown pathways, abandoned dirt tracks and dark lakes encroached on by bowing branches. These scenes provide us with the haunting idea that something ominous has happened or is about to happen. The lack of a human presence in the paintings feeds ones natural instinct that these are sites and forces of violence. There is also a historical feel, that these empty spaces tell stories of the post-industrial age.

For the artist, on the contrary, her re-readings of the British landscape do not solely concern desolation. Woods has used almost fluorescent colour to illustrate a traditionally dark subject matter which achieves a contrasting duality by suggesting celebration.

The artist describes these places as "where someone might be conceived and, as likely... might expire." This sense of the contested is what draw us into her paintings.

Clare Woods paints from the rural depths of her studio close to Wales, where nature becomes an allegory for toughness. Her paintings capture a culture in transition merely by speaking through landscape.

Clare Woods (b.1972) lives and works in London and Herefordshire. She studied at Bath College of Art (1991-94) and Goldsmiths College (1997-99). She has exhibited in the UK, Europe and America.

Woods was shortlisted for the Beck's Futures prize in 2001. One of her most significant paintings 'Rock Of The Night' is on display as part of the permanent collection at Arken Museum for Moderne Kunst, Copenhagen. She has also recently completed a painting for the Arts Council Collection.

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