On Friday 10th of February the artist Virginia Bodman joined us for Pizza and Pencils. It was a great opportunity for our member Niamh Kingsland to meet a practicing artist and to ask questions about Virginia’s work and career.
During the conversation Niamh asked Virginia about her use of materials and the ideas behind her work.
The exhibition Studio Stories, is vibrant with colour but has a rich and dark history behind it. Virginia is exploring themes of gender and identity through her use of imagery, historical images of women in the landscape and strange domestic settings.
Niamh Kingsland: The scale is impressive and I like how the paintings are a combination of different shapes, sizes and colours.
Virginia Bodman: I work on a human scale, the figures are almost life-size. Working this big allows me to get up close and handle the paint in different ways on the canvas. I couldn’t get these effects if I worked smaller. Sometimes I’ve got to really stand back from the work to see the overall composition.
NK: Is there a reason that you use acrylics as your main medium? Is it because it’s quite vivid and creates interesting movement with it?
VB: I use a range of materials in my paintings, mostly oil paints. Some of the paintings have acrylic as a base coat, with oils on top. Acrylics are very vibrant but they dry quickly so I can get more movement and texture from the oil paint, even though it is much more expensive! Some of the paintings in the show have other substances mixed in – glitter and soil.
NK: I love all the pieces but mostly number 7 and number 12 as I find myself drawn to them the most.
VB: What is it that draws you?
NK: The colours. I don’t usually like pink but how you use it here works really well.
VB: Pink is such a tricky colour, especially when connected to gender – but it seemed like the best way to somehow feminise the subject matter.
Young Interpreters 