Clare Woods: Between Before and After
Over a career of more than twenty years, Clare Woods has developed a distinctive painterly language. Originally trained as a sculptor, Wood’s approach to painting has been described as “sculpting with paint” on a base of aluminum, and Woods herself describe the process as very physical.
The artist’s most recent works relate to the recent pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Woods was profoundly affected by the pandemic, but at the same time it was an excellent opportunity to focus on her work. Woods spent long, uninterrupted days in her studio painting intensively, also bringing impressions from home into her work, leading to familiar things then taking on new and distorted meaning.
“My works have always had a trace of perceived fear and the real anxiety this fear causes. If we had not been through lockdown, I would never have been able to imagine what is happening in the world now and how to carry the enormity of this nightmare. Maybe we are all facing the question of what it means to be human”, Woods says.
The exhibition features works from the past six years and is presented in collaboration with Serlachius Museums in Finland, where the exhibition was first shown in 2022 and Dundee Contemporary Arts in Scotland. Between Before and After is curated by Laura Kuurne, Serlachius Museums’ Head of Collections and Exhibitions, and the exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue of the same title, published by Parvs Publishing Ltd.
This touring exhibition was previosuly on view at CCA Andratx, Illes Balears, Spain.
