Roanne O'Donnell

Lives and works in Scotland, UK

Artist statement

Process painter currently working in Scotland on the series of paintings and frottage, 'Surface Work'. ARTIST STATEMENT The subject of my work is the process of making it, limitation, restriction and repetition. Restricting my materials and with a strict mark-making action, I deliberately control the painfully slow development and direction. It is a twenty year investigation. The mark is a horizontal line. The most direct I know. The substrate is paper. Binders are limited to oil and cold wax. Materials are restricted to ivory black pigment, graphite and charcoal. The physical process is the monotonous repetitive movement of making lines by bending over paper, laid flat, and drawing the line or moving my paint mixtures across the surface over and over, again and again. The concept is gemination: ”No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” Heraclitus of Ephesus. STUDIO PRACTICE AND WORKING PROCESS My studio practice is mechanical. My process is calculated. I systematically work on one layer in one sitting, irrespective of scale as I want consistency. So many factors dictate the tonal uniformity that to rest for more than a short length of time destroys continuity and the image is split into obvious, unwanted sections: factors such as how the paint is mixed and the rhythm of my gesture, the speed of my movement; if I’m aggressive or gentle, if I use heavy or light pressure, how I stand, the angle of my arm. During the...

Artwork