Jenna Gribbon - Light Holding
I am almost embarrassed to look at these works, and not because of the nudity. This isn’t just portraiture. These are highly personal moments, often incredibly intimate, rendered in paint. If these were photos on your phone you’d think twice about opening them in public.
The almost claustrophobic compositions suggest a smart phone supplied the source material. The often unprintable titles confirm some works are every bit as explicit as you suspect they may be. And at 2 metres (6.5 feet) tall, these intimate moments become impossible to ignore.
Don’t be shy. You’ll see very different things from across the gallery than you do once you get up close.
I had not expected to see such wide stokes, nor the many striated colours within. They layer and overlap, forming abstract compositions until you step back to see a spectrum of light reflected on a thigh. (Images 3-4)
The noticeable brush work imparts a hazy, almost fleeting nature. As if they were painted fast, or from a fading memory.
Surprisingly, her technique changes in the small works, where facial details are fine, tender, almost loving. If this were a movie, these would be soft focus close-ups designed to glamourise a movie star.
The upstairs gallery (Image 6) is where you can best compare the rough wide strokes (Image 7) to the careful and delicate detail in the small (Image 8). The zoomed in details are roughly the same size. The brushes used clearly were not.
Maybe I’m overly fascinated with technique as a way to avoid discussing the intimacy of the imagery, upon which I still feel I am intruding after three floors of works. Even in an image titled ‘Couch Cramps’ (Image 5) you feel the sympathetic and loving gaze of the artist sharing her wife’s private moment of pain.
To so boldly present it to the world is astounding.
At Massimo de Carlo (@massimodecarlogallery) until 26 Feb
Follow @jennagribbon on Instagram for more info about the artist.