Katie Tomlinson
55 1/8 x 78 3/4 in.
Further images
The title for this painting comes from a Lana Del Ray song, and speaks about love, obsession, ineffable felinity, and societal pressures. It is ironic, humorous and yet sad. Characters recognised as hyperfeminine innocent young women in white dresses (sourced originally from a Marc Jacobs Daisy advert) are seen foraging or caressing in a verdant landscape translated through riot of Impressionist colour. The largest figures in the foreground have their legs in water and a strident yellow horizontal line divides the canvas at this point to reveal a world of fish swimming below the surfaces.
Tomlinson's paintings respond to the collective experiences of women and are influenced by her own cultural experiences and stories shared with the artist by others. In this she explores the unfair exchange of vulnerability and power but aims to keep it light. Recently she has deliberately started appropriating existing paintings into her collages. These women are foraging and swimming inside a Henri Edmond Cross watercolour painting, and although painted it in oil, Tomlinson has kept the original pencil outlines visible and mixes painterly languages as another form of collage. The history of this painting, and the intentional Impressionist brush strokes add to her message that questions historic depictions of idyllic picnics, plein air lunches, and nude women in the landscape.
Exhibitions
At Least Buy Me Dinner First, Brooke Benington, London (2022)A star is just a memory of a star, Brooke Benington, Online (2022)
Literature
Contemporary Art Projects: Interview with Katie Tomlinson (online)
https://contemporaryartprojects.art.blog/category/interviews/ by Stephen Feather
Inside the Physical: An Essay on Katie Tomlinson’s Exhibition ‘Fight the Moon' by Jenny Eden
https://katietomlinson.co.uk/introduction