ARTIST Q & A: CORI CREED ON SHIFT
1) What meaning does the title of the exhibition Shift hold for you?
I think about the purpose of painting. Is it to record a place? A moment? A feeling? Or is it to communicate ideas and tell stories with marks and strokes and colour? If the painting is at all representational, there is a subject, a scene, an illusion. And there is always process. I like to disrupt the illusion with reminders of the process. And so, this exhibition focuses on the shift, as my current practice oscillates between the story and the storytelling.
2) There is a real sense of movement and an exploratory quality of mark-making in this body of work. Are there new concepts, techniques, or new sites/locations that have inspired you?
I am endlessly questing for inspiration and so many different things find their way into my work. It could be the negative space in another artist’s work, a stage set at a theatre or the medium. I am always searching new ways to mix and apply it.
3) It’s interesting to think that not so long ago, you were so strongly linked with the arbutus tree as your dominant subject matter, yet not a single one appears in this show. Is this a conscious decision?
Not really. I am a bit blown by winds of obsession! Currently, I’m captivated by the abstraction that oceanscapes offer, the graphic nature of birch trees, or light patterning afforded by forest.
4) Do you approach the oceanscapes differently from the landscapes?
Oceanscapes are so much about movement, and there is freedom found in painting a scene with no fixed element. Even the horizon becomes blurred with light and weather. The focus can be placed heavily on the language of the paint.
5) This is the first time we have seen the introduction of the smaller 10 x 10 inch oil studies. Could you tell us a little about them?
Sometimes I do sketches to plan a painting. Sometimes I feel that planning hampers the unconscious influences that I feel can be crucial. For this body of work, as I try to move toward the essential elements of a scene or time, I found it helpful to create small pieces. The studies helped me to maintain a sense of space when to a larger canvas.
6) What are your plans in the studio after this show ?
I experimented with a couple pieces in this show by shooting references at night. The references were illuminated by an artificial light source and being able to control my lighting helped to set the stage. I would like to look into this further.
Photography courtesy of Sarah Jane Photography