Claire Reed Vidarte

Lives and works in Barcelona, Spain

Artist statement

Brief Artist Statement I am interested in referencing and creating textures like marble with lines or cracks, scratched, damaged yet beautiful surfaces, and surfaces where the image has rubbed away so the bones can be seen over time. I mainly use pitch, oils, and wax on stone paper, as well as collage and layered pieces using butcher´s paper. Themes include an exploration of palimpsest and layered histories; torn-apart and re-joined characters; rending, breakages, and cobbling pieces together, physically patching up broken images and imperfectly repairing damage. My work often straddles the border of abstraction and figurative or narrative elements. Experimenting with Kintsugi (and the concept of revindicating the beauty, potential, and meaning found in damaged and mended objects) led me to work with a gold-leaf specialist to seal cracks in my damaged figures. However, I also work with messier, humbler materials, using techniques like patching, sewing, and stapling. I also experiment with monoprints, using pitch or charcoal with different mediums (such as keratin, spirits, and oil mixes) to create twinned images that I embellish and differentiate. I create textured images through the printing process, including interventions at different times, which I´ll also mark or draw into, or use mediums to remove later. My starting point is more intuitive than conceptual, and I like working with almost indestructible stone paper that can take a lot of punishment, exposing...

Artwork