Artel

Joanna Higgs

I work purely from the subconscious; ‘pre-conceiving’ it in the form of making sketches or thinking about what I’m going to paint before creating the actual work itself doesn’t work for me. I just start randomly flinging paint onto the surface, layer over layer whilst turning it around, until some form emerges. Only when it feels like a good image can I start working on the form, the colours and background. Some of my works can be put together as series of images that are related to each other but it’s not a conscious decision to make them so; even I myself see the connection only after I view them together.
My work is figurative and has an unsettling effect on most people who look at it. I’m not aiming to create something that is necessarily pleasing to the eye, on the contrary: I want the viewer to look at it and feel slightly uneasy, but then again at the same time I’d like them to think: ” WHY do I feel uneasy?” as it is something hidden under the surface that makes for the disturbed feeling and not something apparent that can be pointed out immediately when looking at it. Most of all I don’t want to talk about the work too much, but let the image do the talking; as that is the reason I created it.