Vessel

A contemplation on the science of life and living -

an artistic expression of the atomic.

Grey Matter

About

For Fyfe the decision to paint on unconventional, repurposed or recyclable substrates is an exploration of texture and colour and, more profoundly, as a response to obsolescence in our aspirational society.

The Vessel project was born from Fyfe’s enjoyment of painting on glass and the fascinating effect that a three dimensional surface has on a particularly traditional, still image. Vessel is a visual challenge for its viewer as the painted vases are rarely able to be viewed at exactly the height they were created. The images therefore, are distorted and appear to move with the viewer.

Paying tribute to traditional oil portraiture and still life, Vessel presents a resemblance to organic biology and familar tableware, enabling an innate connection with the viewer, however Fyfe intends for her art to connect more deeply with the viewer.

A random conversation about the cosmos and the deep connection each living thing has with the atomic particles of our universe set Fyfe on a journey to examine the human experience at a molecular level. Fyfe challenged herself to express, through paint, the awe-inspiring and magical fact that our bodies are constructed of supernova stardust - molecules which are 13.7 billion years old. Fyfe began to conceptualise the human body as a vessel container designed to be open to the air allowing the diffusion of particles from the exterior atmosphere into the container and back out again. A completely invisible, yet constant movement of age-old atoms.

Fyfe’s Vessel vases depict human lives as receptacles of souls - individual, yet also made from the same atomic construction of the world they inhabit. Seen from behind, the vessel painterly portraits are roughly sketched and unrefined. Viewing them in the reverse is almost like a forbidden view into an individual human life with all the workings exposed, the public mask presented to the world removed. Set out like sarcophagi, these vases are representational of our physical existence. They have the potential to be filled with atoms of various substances, they are indeed filled with oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen as they stand, and yet they also retain the personality of the live sitter portrayed on their surface.

Fyfe was inspired to explore the concept of multiple containers as a singular subject matter in 2018 when she first viewed the oil painting ‘The Hundred Jugs’ by the British painter William Nicholson. Nicholson’s still life painting, painted in 1916, consists literally of 100 jugs, understood to be the result of a bet with his son. Nicholson’s jugs take on human-like qualities as they fulfil the duties they were created to perform. Muted in colour, his earthenware and glass pitchers appear to meld into one another, formed from the same tonal palette. Each jug has its own individulal personality and identity in the grouping and yet they also form a ‘community’.

All of Fyfe’s receptacles are repeated in her still life paintings. Viewers experience the recognition of particular objects as if discovering old friends. 'Characters’ appear in her still life paintings on linen in different scenarios almost like a stage production. The viewer is invited to interpret each separate ‘scene’ as they would a theatrical play. Arranging a comfortable visual space by employing her familiar characters, Fyfe prepares the ground for her investigation of the themes her vessels represent.

Through paint, Fyfe gives thought to what it means to live a life. Of what our bodies - our mortal vessels - are truly comprised, and how we gather as a communal entity to become something larger than ourselves.

Flesh

Element

Nourish

Air