Paula Rego
Posted by 6fish on December 1, 2005
Theres a Paula Rego exhibition on locally (Brighton Museum and Art Gallery) and someone pointed it out to me. Alongside this there was a talk by Paula today which I just managed to sneek into. I’m not a Rego expert but have been interested for while because I’m a line artist as well as a painter and Paula is a very good drafts women. Anyway I thought the talk would be a good way to get to know her and her work quickly and I was right. Meeting the artist in this case was very enlightening, for a start some of the pictures appear quite dark but from her talk it was clear there is a lot of humour in there. She definitely understands magic!
She’s very much an individual and a long way from an expressionist, old school you could say. When asked what amateur artists should do she replied “learn to draw” (quite right), she emphasized drawing what you see not whats in your head.
The show is quite a big one and well worth going to see. Allow an hour or two.
Don’t go too close to the cushion man though!
Bartosz said
Paula Rego is one of the most celebrated and , I would suggest, problematic artists currently working in Britain. She has continually renewed her practice, which has included the cut, paste and painted collages of the 1950s and 60s, the animal pictures of the 80s which developed into the more grounded grand compositions, the large pastels through to the present obsessive fixation with working directly from the observed experience, in order to delve into her imagination. While many contemporary artists, especially women, have embraced new media and processes to discover a personal visual language, Rego has steadfastly engaged herself within the complexities of traditional practice, seeking to take on the challenge of painting.
Learn more about the artist and view paintings by Paula Rego online