Judith Lawson

My love of the natural world and long wanderings collecting both natural and increasingly human-made materials are at the heart of my practice. I believe that everything is interconnected and the effects of obsessive consumerism, along with the coveting and conquering of land and “nature” have a huge role to play in the problems we face with climate change today.

 

I am drawn to paint, the mystery and surprises of its alchemy continually fascinate me. Life is interconnected, yet continually disrupted and this is often expressed in  my work; through colour, gesture or the addition of an incongruous material. 

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With paint, I want to capture light, atmosphere, and something of the essence of the natural world, one that is irrevocably changed from that of historical landscape painters but still overwhelms with its beauty, power and fragility. The concept of the sublime in traditional landscape painting is still relevant in post-landscape contemporary painting as we face a world on the brink.  My work reflects the time in which it was made, a window to our current world, it could be seen as abstract but comes from observation of landscape and my connection to it. 

 

I also work with found materials, and photography. The line between painting and sculpture is fascinating and my recent work experiments with this. My use of plastics and polystyrene has also led me to rethink “value,” how and why we assign value to “things,”  the significance of this and its contribution to the waste problem.

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