Natasha Conway’s paintings are born from a spontaneous and intuitive act devoid of any premeditation, surprising even the artist herself when the work is completed. Her small-size paintings are made of oil on linen or wood panel in line with pictorial tradition, however, although there is a technical continuity with the past, she shows on the contrary, a break with the figurative principles that ruled academic painting. Conway demonstrates an interest towards the language of abstraction and its emotional aspects, acting on the canvas with great virtuosity and vigour. The brushstroke is restless and fauve-like, as the painters of the French avant-garde of the early twentieth century. The artist makes her creative gesture free from any obsolete formalism by concentrating exclusively on her inner self, the subconscious emotion that emerges and unfolds among the vivid colours of the pictorial surface, becoming a theatre of feelings, a place where nonsensical passions are settled. Therefore, the knowledge of the world and its representation occurs through an impulsive and liberating act, the forces that rule reason are spontaneous on the canvas without any illustrative pretence.
Text by Valeria Ceregini
Natasha Conway, Paintings (27th – 30th September 2017, Pallas Projects/Studios, Dublin IE).
Valeria Ceregini 