Louise Garman

Print on paper

I contrast opposites like ugliness and beauty, life and death, black and white, harsh and tender. I create experimental multi-media images with the volume turned up to the max. My art deals with abandoned, stark and neglected secret places – the ageing Dungeness nuclear power station, the beautiful and brutal Saddleworth Moor, and the derelict side of Salford. Pollute dreams, nightmares and enchantment. I wander round these unwanted places alone, drawing, photographing, videoing and collecting forgotten items that have been tossed aside. I collate these items, and build uncompromising installations using the objects found on these solitary walks…bird’s nests, sleeping tablets, a child’s mitten, nitrous oxide canisters…And as I continue to work on these themes, I juxtapose them together, creating new layered displaced drawings, photographic images and silkscreens. In a photographic image of Dungeness, I have concentrated on the dramatic, long distance perspective. And the colour changes are bold and unnatural. It is an emotional response to an inhuman, derelict, ugly manmade building. In the silkscreens of Saddleworth Moor, I have overdone the image, underdone the image, improvised, and layered the inks in translucent, subtle colourways. I have strived to break free of the conventional. In contrast, in my video “Earth Turning ” , the triptych focuses on the sky, the wind and the ocean, the movement of our natural world. They are unspoilt, untouched by human hand. It’s all about the journey, and each of my journeys has been documented. Initially, I believed that my practice was reflecting society, and our greed and non-caring attitude towards our environment. I then realised that my choice of subjects was saying more about me as an artist through the process of observation and selection. Subconsciously, I have focused on life and death. And then some…

Exhibitions

2020 Flourish, Woodend Gallery, Scarborough

2020 Contact, Cross Street Arts, Standish

2019 Disregard, Vernon Art Gallery, Stockport

2019 That Dark Space Behind My Eyes, Solo Show Air Gallery, Altrincham

2017 Corduroy, Stockholm, Sweden

Contact

Website: www.louisegarman.com

Twitter: @louise_garman

@louise_garmanmural