Reverse Paintings
As part of my Commonwealth Universities research year in India, I worked alongside a glass painter in Tanjore. Throughout my research I valued insight from K.G Subramanyan, head of Santiniketan art school, about some aspects of appropriation from other cultures he said that many western artists made use of traditional crafts of India and it was important to respect the traditional and often devotional values of the craftsman. I was drawn to reverse painting because of the purity of line on top of radiant colour with glints of gold or silver which catch the light and give a treasure-like quality. There is something satisfying about spray painting the surface, when the painting is complete, to seal the paint.Then, turning the picture to view the front of the image for the first time adds an element of suspense to the process.
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