kathleen fox creative Surrealism the unconscious

MY BUTTON

river mud on paper

My work varies in medium - drawing, painting, objects, video and installation - but is consistent in it's interest: an exploration of the fluid realm that is the unconscious.

To this end I use texture and found objects as means of attempting to bypass rational thought and immerse myself in (or be immersed by) a space that is elusive and intangible and yet as pertinent as the visible.

Play, chance and accident have a crucial role in this process, as does automatism. The thrill of the unpredictable is the matrix of this journey. There is an element of randomness in the nature of the execution of each medium and technique that allows an intuitive process to lead the way.

The narratives that surface and evolve form part of an unfolding personal mythology.

The work is informed by formative years in South Africa, African and Greek mythology and readings in prehistory.

Recent Work and Events

THE HANDBAG COLLECTOR

2024

Playing with rivermud and collage again . There's something about rivermud and the marks that the little animals living in the mud make as they move through the mud on the paper that I find endlessly intriguing. It's the most random method of making texture that I've devised..

ORACLE (unheard)

2024

Found objects including bones from Thames mud and red sand from the Drakensberg area in South Africa

Since returning from a visit to my homeland South Africa in 2023, and spending time coastal walking and swimmimg in the Indian Ocean, as well as experiencing the impact of Bushman rock paintings, I've become immersed in childhood memories which is reflected in the images and colours in my work.

oil on board 56.5 x 61cm

MEDUSA DREAMING 2022-23

Created by merging a series of still photos of finger-drawing in beach sand on a sheet of glass placed over black paper.

4mins 18secs
Accompanied by the sound of breathing/sea.

A short video with David Greenslade, curator of the exhibition Perfectly Frank at the Volcano Gallery in Swansea 17 October-7 November 2023

A year since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

These drawings from March 2022 were my initial gut response - nothing has changed - yet.

DOGS OF WAR I: RELEASED  59 X 116cm DOGS OF WAR II: THE TURNING  59 X 84 cm DOGS OF WAR III: END GAME 59 x 84cm

SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIPS 2021-22

Four works created over several months as a response to a collaboration between myself and New York poet, writer and playwright Allan Graubard.

He suggested we work on the subject of the symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants. As part of our collaboration we agreed that complete freedom was essential for this to succeed, freedom to respond to each others work as well as our own individual research with no expectations on how this exploration and investigation would develop.

Allan Graubard Text