February 2015: Bryn Harding & Kate Saunders

Bryn Harding has recently been creating portraits of people, real and imagined. These portraits force a viewer to look inward when confronted with the “self” gazing back at them. The portraits are open vehicles that invite viewers to project narrative, emotion and meaning onto them. As the figures evolve they become vehicles for reflection and questioning. In the end each piece is a co-creation between the artist and the materials. These recent works focus on questions of identity, place, and the role that history plays in out lives. To quote Bryn “Intaglio printmaking is the perfect medium for working in this way. The process takes a long time and the copper often seems to fight back against my plans. The time, work, and patience required by this medium provide the space needed to reflect on image making. I mix my own inks, make my own grounds, stop-outs and lifts. Through a combination of old and new techniques, rich surfaces and textures are created; areas of abstraction and pattern that juxtapose and support representational figures. Each piece is, at least in part, a celebration of the medium.”