My practice draws from my background in film and cinema and interest in astronomy, in order to examine the representation of ‘questionable spaces’ (both natural and constructed).
Taking the colour black as a signifier for the ‘ambiguous’, the use of this colour as a substrate in my paintings, is designed to deny these represented environments a full understanding of what is ‘natural’ and known to us.
I utilise the idea of film and theatrical ‘sets’ as inspiration; in particular from the genres of classic cinema and science fiction. Sometimes this might just be hints of a production – like the use of technical devices such as blue screen or green screen – or references to the use of ‘concept art’: the pre-production artwork made for cinema and video game industry for clients to visualize ideas of what these imagined worlds in question might look like. These artworks are something unseen, kept from the public in order to preserve the full illusion of the worlds portrayed.
These recreated spaces operate as a deception of sorts in contrast with the ultimate space – space itself. The space that I try to portray is mostly unreachable for humans, but its reality – depicted, imagined or simulated – is part of all that we are.
Elise Gegauff 