This body of work came about when a grubby little red haired toy found me at a garage sale. Over time I discovered that she was not alone ... there were in fact several of her kind, blondes, brunettes, male and female, sad, happy, bruised and bewildered (Small Shots - Hot Wheels for girls by Mattel circa 1970). They made their way to my house through the eBay portal, I couldn't resist but play with them and before I knew it they were acting out scenes for me to
paint. [Deidre But Husaim]
The works of Deidre But-Husaim are above all about painting and the act of rendering a chosen image on canvas. Deidre delights in painting. Her surfaces are lovingly laboured and give the illusion of being airbrushed when in fact they are a delicate union of brushstrokes.
Interested in capturing the nuances of human emotion, there is an irony in her subjects being plastic. Her works are vivid in colour, more luminous and alive than they should be and so, her characters become larger than life. Put in different situations the little orange haired Mattel girl holds the same expression yet seems in one painting rebellious and cheeky, the next sinister and another loving and intimate. The viewer plays a part in ascribing these emotions and like a metaphor for human interaction, people only see what they want to in a situation.
Using these toys as 'life' models, Deidre has been able to capture moments and interactions, which resonate within our own experience. These toys do it
better...'people act and overact'.
There is a play between the 3D characters and the flatness of their backgrounds- one element accentuates and encourages the other. The faces are deliciously full and luminous against a flat colour. The division draws attention to the differences in painting technique but also to the staged nature of these scenes.
"Because of the tyranny of distance, Adelaide's emerging artists are pretty much a well kept secret. They cover the spectrum from the deadly serious to the seriously
whimsical."
The Sunday Telegraph. Jan 26
Deidre is also listed in the next issue of Australian Art Collector as one of the affordable collectable artists to keep an eye on. |
