Cathy Read
Buckingham, Buckinghamshire
Cathy Read appeared on Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, 2016 and 2017. Her work in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, private and corporate collections.
MessageCathy Read re-imagines iconic architecture using explosive, colourful drops and trails of paint, held together with a structure of white lines. She exhibits with the Society of Women Artists in London and was awarded the Barbara Tate Memorial Award in 2015. Her work is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and corporate collections. She is represented by Artzu Gallery Manchester. She appeared on Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year in 2016 and 2017. Originally from Manchester she now lives in a chapel near Buckingham which she converted with her husband. She lives close enough to London to get her Urban Architecture fix when needed.
Statement
My paintings are snapshots, I look for contrasts where they occur: such as new buildings, with clean shapes and lines, alongside old decaying ones, or geometric architecture softened by nature over time
Buildings reflect the dreams of the people who create them. By using an abstract technique I capture that dreamlike quality. The masking fluid creates a linear structure which holds together the fluid and energetic paint and ink shapes. The ink, especially, allows mini explosions of colour which evolve during the drying process.
With these paintings I am looking for perspectives that convey the scale of the buildings. That sense of Awe at their sheer size. By experimenting with angles, foreshortening and shapes, I seek the essence of the vision behind their creation and that childhood sense of looming where the building feels like it will topple on you.