Rosie Crawley

Rosie’s practice often tells the story of inspired female characters.  Collage, zeitgeist and themes of everyday life permeate her work. 

 

Using oil paint primarily, she explores both liminal and narrative space - forcing the viewer to make their own connections and conclusions.

 

These paintings were inspired by her travels to Mexico, where she discovered a great love for the people, food, and landscape.

 

Influenced by artists such as Frida Kahlo, and Diego Riveria whose surrealist style informs her everyday practice, Rosie endeavours to highlight the simple and often trivial things that bring happiness. 

 

The canvases show people swimming and dancing, cactuses, flowers, and depictions of food and delicacies. Rosie gives her viewer a snippet of the simple human pleasures we often take for granted; the items she paints not only give us desire to consume or act but are also beautiful to observe.

 

In her own words ‘I find myself trying to remember and capture real moments of pure bliss. My camera roll is filled with pictures of moments I wish to translate onto canvas. It is hard to describe: it might be a crocus signifying the first break of spring, the plants I see whilst walking my dog early in the morning, shadows from the window just as the sun rises, the plate of seafood devoured on holiday, or the first sip of coffee on a Saturday morning. I share the small moments that I can’t describe through words but when I paint them onto my canvases, I am reminded of how they made me feel at the time’. 

 

Her use of bold colour and line translate well into these pieced together paintings, breaking up the image through bold and painterly lines. 

 

The viewer's eye dances around the image, finding little moments held in time alongside the faces Rosie depicts.