S E N S U A L C O R P O R E A LC H E L S E A R O W L E Y

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“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to

the world he lives in”

Amy Lowell

I matriculated from Redhill High School in 2010 after receiving distinctions for both Design and Fine Art. Throughout my life I have been extremely enthusiastic about art.

As a result, during the course of my school career I achieved awards and accolades for art and design (including scrolls for both). I am now in my third year at the University of Johannesburg and I am about to graduate with a Diploma in Fine Art. Over the past three years, I have achieved distinctions in Conceptual Studies, Art History, Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, Printmaking, Photography and Video Art. A diligent student, in my first year I achieved an average of 82%, have already received the honour of being placed on the Dean’s List and have been accepted into the University of Johannesburg’s Alumni.

Receiving an award for my video installation work in 2010, and being requested to return to Redhill High School to moderate the 2012 and 2013 June Matric Art Exhibitions are only a few of the many accolades that I have accomplished.

More recently, I placed runner up in the “Make a Difference” screen-print poster competition, hosted by IOHA. At the end of 2012, I received a bursary from the Gauteng City Regional Academy, as well as a merit bursary from the University of Johannesburg as recognition of for her excellent achievements.

I have also been involved in a number of exhibitions, including the I.E.B. Exhibition (2010), the Exposure Exhibition (2011), the Melville 3rd Year Collaboration Exhibition (2013), and the 100 Years of Alice Exhibition (2013).

This collection of work has been created and compiled over the past six months and includes both painting and drawing. I have investigated the intricate concept of sensuality, and, more specifically, the experience of the physical world through the skin. I believe that the work exhibited here is a manifestation of contemplation as well as technical and conceptual growth.

CURRICULUM VITAE

S K I N A S M E M B R A N E

SUBMERGENCE

This project began as a curiosity of mine was sparked while researching the body and its specific manner of being in the physical world. I quickly became fascinated with the idea that the sensory experiences of our physical selves could possibly serve as testimony of our existence in this world.

The notion that through the existence of the sensuous body one could begin to explore one’s own physicality, and, simultaneously, one’s own consciousness, in specific contexts drove me to consider possible manners in which to achieve this concept visually.

I began to focus on the notion of ‘submergence’, and, more specifically, the submergence of body in water or liquid. this presented a number of conceptual and visual challenges, including the merging of body and water, and the textual differentiation between the two substances: flesh and liquid.

This visual concept also allowed me to experiment further with the notion of the sensuous and sensuality (not to be confused with sexuality). I began to understand that, through my body of work, I was striving to understand how I personally physically and psychologically interact with the world around me.

200 x 150cm, Charcoal on Fabriano

DRAWING #2 IMAGE BURNT

As a result of this notion, I began to create work that focused on the skins

reaction to certain things and experiences. I found the concept of sensuality to be better articulated

through the specific focus on the skin, as I enjoy contemplating the skin as a

membrane between consciousness and the physical world.

Thus, this work was the beginning of my experimentation with the skin and its reaction to sensory phenomena, such as the feel of water and of burning. In

a sense, I started to treat the physical material in the work as skin, subjecting

it to such sensory experiences.

196 x 150cm, Charcoal and wax on burnt Fabriano

CONGEAL183 x 150cm, Charcoal on Fabriano

CLEANSE180 x 150cm, Charcoal on Fabriano

SMOTHER186 x 150cm, Charcoal on Fabriano

The following works display a progression of my experimentation of the skins reaction to liquid,

sensory experiences. In each work I attempted to investigate the skins reaction to these different

experiences, examining aspects like gooseflesh or hairs standing on end.

VISCID185 x 100cm, Charcoal on Fabriano

T H E C O N F L I C T B E T W E E N T H E B O D Y A N D T H E

E X T E R N A L E N V I R O N M E N T I S T H E W A Y T O P R O V E T H E

E X I S T A N C E O F T H E S E L F- Z H A N G H U A N

S K I N A S M E M B R A N E

PERSPIRE

In my paintings, as in my drawings, the ambiguity of the section of body being focused on is critical to how the work is read. I want to focus less on the specificity of the body part, and more on the skin itself, which acts as a barrier between consciousness and the physicality of the world.

In this work, I also began to experiment with the visual notion of combining skin, liquid and the physical paint.

152 x 122cm, Oil on canvas

SEAR

Similar to my previous works, in these two paintings I confronted notions of the skins reaction to and experience of the physical world, represented through water. However, I also began to experiment with my use of colour, and I understood that such colour manipulation could possibly begin to describe particular sensations more successfully, perhaps, than a charcoal drawing.

152 x 122cm, Oil on Canvas

EMISSION152 x 122cm, Oil on Canvas

I D O N ’ T P A I N T T H I N G S .I O N L Y P A I N T T H E D I F F E R E N C E

B E T W E E N T H I N G S- H E N R I M A T I S S E

THAW152 x 122cm, Oil on Fabriano

This project into which I have immersed myself over the past year has forced me to not only contemplate the abject, ambiguous body as a concept, but to deal with my own

physicality and consciousness in the world. I have discovered that we interact with our physical environments via our bodies and, more specifically, our skin. It has been interesting for me to engage with this concept through my work, both practically and

theoretically, and I believe that I now have a better understanding of the conscious and physical manner in which we occupy and engross ourselves in a physical world.

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”

Thomas Merton