Siobhan Wall

About Siobhan Wall

Raw
1992
Oil on canvas, 81 x 102 cm
Donated by the artist 1992.

The artist has written: "The figures in my paintings seem exposed, vulnerable and ambivalent about revealing their sexuality. It is often noticed that my figures appear to be painfully aware of being looked at ... I want the figures in my work to resist being passive receivers of the gaze. The body is numb with the impact of hostile gazes and her fingers are like a baby's: not knowing what they are meant to do, they are pathetically inadequate in protecting the body."

Woman Thinking
1994
Acrylic on canvas, 35 x 56 cm
Donated by the artist 1994.

Woman Thinking was included in Siobhan Wall's exhibition at New Hall in 1994. It is one of her works inspired by what she sees as the modern equivalent of the portrait painting in our living-rooms: the television. Using a similar format to the dimensions of the tv screen, she sketched the broadcast faces, and then painted these on canvas. Rather than simply showing familiar presenters or characters, she attempted to capture what she felt was a general longing to be these people.