Penelope Civil

I use the inherent qualities of paint to visualise disparate energies. Melding together luminous calm expanses of colour with the free and unpredictable nature of gestural mark making.

Within the environment, rhythm, pattern, movement and energy flow are interconnected and leave behind traces that affect my perceptions and imaginings of place.  Urban spaces are imprinted with rhythmic and incidental forces inflicted from human and nature’s presence. Surfaces sometimes softly or brutally etched, stained, scraped, blurred, scuffed and scarred from everyday phenomenon. Walking on the beach, I can follow the prints of unseen forces. The cycle of tides renders the fractal pattern of a sand dune. Waves and transient water lines give rise to its defined edges, that later soften and disappear, only to reform again in new and familiar ways. It is this constant iterative cycle, that generates nature’s fractals. Although their creation seems unpredictable and chaotic, there is an underlying order. It is a paradox that fascinates me.

I am captivated by the artistic process and the challenges and discoveries it illicits. Although I am a New Zealander, I have also lived in Europe and Asia.  I have a Masters of Fine Arts (First Class Honours) from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland (2022). My previous studies include; a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Distinction) from Auckland University of Technology and a Diploma in Fine Arts from Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore. My fine arts education has included focus on both abstract and figurative painting.

Research and experimentation are ongoing in my practice, and I seek a responsive spontaneity in the process.  Making paintings reminds me, as a child of playing in a rock pool at the beach.  Each painting is like a pool, with its own mysterious dynamics. A reflective depth of space in which to explore the possibilities of paint. A place in which I want to ruffle its dimensions with splashes of contradiction or randomness. I seek to produce work that feels like it just happened and yet engages slower looking.

Multi-rhythmic Painting (see examples of works on aluminium in gallery)

My Masters research project explored the idea of multi-rhythmic abstract painting. This approach reflects my observation that the everyday experience of life is multi-rhythmic, with rhythm able to assume an expansive meaning. Rhythmic orientation has been described in theoretical and interdisciplinary dialogue as a stance that seeks inclusivity in the negotiation of contradictions and differences that may exist within frameworks of multiplicity and diversity.

 My material process examines the coexistence of gestural and atmospheric rhythm within pictorial space and the articulation of these varied sensations, movements, energies and moods on different surfaces. Experimentation is activated by the uncertain dynamics of these disparate voices and how their affects can be retained, integrated and experienced in the resolved painting. In my paintings on aluminium, the shaping and folding of the aluminium allowed me to incorporate a rhythmic dimension into the substrate of the painting.