CHARLOTTE HODES                                                                                                                                               
Traditional process such as drawing, painting collage and print are inherently physical and it is through these processes that I have evolved my vision as an artist. The digital has had a dramatic effect on my work introducing an exciting tension between traditional and new practice.

The computer has its own inherent characteristics : The juxtaposition of disparate imagery through scanning and collaging, ‘cut’ and ‘paste’ functions are some of the most direct ways of working. Patterning, layering and mark making through dithering and filters, using vector and pixel based programmes introduce very particular
qualities.

My work for Culture 2000 takes the form of digitally outputted prints. The surface of a digital print is naturally uniform but it does have its own character and colour gamut. This work explores the qualities of the digital print, the emphasis being on the possibilities at the stage of output rather than the resolution of the image whilst in a virtual state. The prints will be literally collaged, adding to the possibilities of contrasts and juxtapositions. Each print will be worked on individually ( as in a painting) the digital printing machine being seen as an easily accessible tool to be ‘played’ with directly and intuitively.

The subject is the female figure, emerging from the car, with historical paintings juxtaposed. Contemporary imagery is full of females and cars, used with varying degrees of sexual and symbolic meaning. The figure is emerging from an interior to an exterior space, from safety to exposure, private to public. The car is new, metal, shiny, the figure is part of a moment in time, emerging through the physical surface into the present, the historical referencing the image in time.

INDEX  PAGE