Teresa Lawler

There are themes in my work that are recurring and that are derived from ongoing and often diverging interests and experiences. Screen imagery is frequently referenced, both in terms of creating scenic, architectural structures and in the use of deeply contrasting lighting to create drama. Connected to this is an interest in paintings from the past that display a fascination for the kind of lighting that is a forerunner of film lighting today, in which subjects emerge from dark, evocative backgrounds.

My most recent work looks at  that space where the city meets the country or where sea and sky connects with the built environment. I am interested in how buildings insert themselves into the landscape and also in an implied narrative which is in itself open to interpretation by the viewer. This latter interest sometimes means the introduction of the figure - in drawings they are also used to indicate scale and are often seen in isolation. Even in paintings where the figure is absent a human presence is usually suggested by the glow of light in a window, 

In tandem with land/cityscapes I also occasionally engage with the figure directly and an alternative strand is the painted portrait. These however can also involve similar concerns to my other work with figures frequently placed within a structured background and with a very defined light source.

What ultimately interests me whatever the subject or medium is the ability of paint and pencil to create an alternative drama to film. The media I use allows a slow reveal rather than a rapidly unfolding storyline both in the process of making the image and in the viewing of it.