Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

Rebecca Newnham (b.1967)

Vermeer 20 Oudolf

Signed

Glass and timber, 2019

51 x 66 x 9cm

Description of the work: Vermeer are a series of curved reliefs whose reflective glass surface refracts the environment so that the viewer's perception switches between examining the image and the reflection. A painted response with glass enamels which are fired onto glass, cut up and collaged onto a curved timber frame which emphasizes the pixilated image. It is a system which questions what we see and how we see.

This panel is the first in a series of three, in response to the fabulous pond in the Piet Oudolf garden at Hauser & Wirth in Somerset. It combines multiple images of the grey sky and clouds reflected on the surface of the pond, the aquatic plants below and the rippled surface.

Rebecca Newham is a sculptor and designer concerned with dynamic movement and light. Each work playfully integrates science, art and engineering, and they can be static or kinetic; some float or suspend or rotate.

Free standing works interpret scientific ideas such as fluid dynamics, waves of energy and sound. Wall panels are inspired by an experience of place, the painted facets merge with ambient reflection blending the image with the present.

Newhams's sculptures often have a glass skin. Light reflecting from this faceted glass surface changes as the viewer moves through the space adding to the impact of the work. Glass is painted with enamels, fired then cut, polished, and applied to wrap seamlessly around the form. Newham has works in private and museum collections; she alternates working on her own narrative pieces with site specific commissions.