Susan Banks

Part of a body of work which explores symbolic attributes of mirrors, plays with their definition and questions what they reflect. This painting references the small, elaborate mirrors seen in religious buildings in Spain. It touches on their symbolism and what they might reflect. The colours are taken from iconic images of the Virgin and evoke rich fabrics, precious metals and stones. The systems of process, colour progression and grouping which govern the development of the painting ensure subtle asymmetries and colour combinations and thereby celebrate the particularity of painting in an era of technical imaging. The aesthetic qualities of the work are partly dependant on the very materiality of paint and its application. The flat areas in the paintings is applied in acrylic paint while the rest of the canvas is worked using a wet-into-wet oil painting process. This painting questions what intensity of effect might qualify as a reflection.