Into the Woods: a review of Reality Dimmed at the Mead Gallery

Disturbing, perplexing, and wonderful are all adjectives that spring to mind when it comes to describing Reality Dimmed, an exhibition of the British artist Clare Woods’ work, which debuted at the Mead Gallery in the Warwick Arts Centre this month.

The exhibition features eight large-scale paintings, each of which was inspired by a piece of found photography – lost or discarded photographs which have been recovered – and of which Woods is an avid collector. The found photography used for this exhibition was exclusively in black and white, which, Woods claimed, allowed her to progress and shape the work with the addition of colour.

Discussing the inspiration behind these paintings, Woods has stated: “The way I pick an image is, I find a photograph that works on a really practical, formal level, so I know it’s going to be really challenging to paint. The question I’m asking myself is, ‘How am I going to actually structurally form this in paint?”

The large, curved brushstrokes of colour that Woods uses give the paintings an ethereal vibe

Despite the challenges posed by creating such pieces of art, Woods has revealed that certain pieces in the exhibition were painted in just a day, explaining, “the preparation and thinking time is much greater, the actual execution time is much shorter”. This allowed her to prioritise colour and form when it came to painting, which she described as a “liberating” experience. When viewing the paintings, it is no surprise that colour was a priority as it is one of the stand-out elements of the exhibition. From jewel tones to pastels, each combination of colours is eye-catching, and the large, curved brushstrokes of colour that she uses give the paintings an ethereal vibe.

Moving away from her earlier work, which predominantly depicted abstract landscapes, in Reality Dimmed Woods focuses more heavily on people and portraits, exhibiting her talent for capturing and evoking emotion. The paintings often depict horror – comparisons have been drawn to Munch’s famous painting, The Scream – and I doubt any spectators can escape feeling slightly unsettled when viewing the artwork, due to its dark and mysterious nature. It is clear that emotion permeates every piece and, when discussing Reality Dimmed, Woods has expressed the emotional importance that she places on her artwork.

Woods focuses heavily on people and portraits, exhibiting her talent for capturing and evoking emotion

She revealed: “I spent a lot of time trying to work out how all the source material linked up and fitted together, but eventually I realised that it doesn’t at all. It’s quite disparate. The only connection is that it all has some effect on me emotionally or conceptually. For me to want to paint something, it has to have some sort of emotional attachment, and then the act of painting is a way of breaking that down.”

The title of the exhibition is taken from a quote by psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, which was published in 1946. When discussing the psychological defence mechanisms used by Auschwitz prisoners, Frankl described their mental state as: “Reality dimmed, and all efforts and all emotions were centred on one task: preserving one’s own life and that of the other fellow”.

On her decision to use this as the exhibition’s title, Woods commented: “I read the book a long time ago, actually, but it’s something that’s really stayed with me – the idea that to really find meaning you have to strip everything away, strip it right back. I often collect titles from reading and hearing things, and this is one of those instances where the two words seemed to really fit what I was thinking about and what I was making at that moment, the notion of abstracting what you’re actually looking at or what you’re feeling.”

Reality Dimmed is running at the Mead Gallery until Saturday 10th March and entry is free of charge. https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/2018/clare-woods/