Hair Pieces
Sharon Thompson – 2009
In the State of Flux Gallery, Sharon Thompson (Kingston, ON) presents a current project of mixed media on wood that evokes ‘story telling’ by incorporating hairpieces. These pieces encompass her formal instincts, and her predilection for structure and abstraction, but added to these is a focused narrative exposition.
Hair Pieces: from the Saucy to the Sublime
My abstract paintings have always had, in my own mind, a ‘subject matter’ beyond their felt expressiveness. Each one different from the others, they are pictures of the human psyche, and in particular, of the feminine human psyche. In this sense they belong in the genre of story telling.
This current project of mixed media on wood evolved from the idea that it might be possible to use this ‘story telling’ instinct more fully by incorporating hairpieces, which automatically set up obvious human associations.
I acquired these hairpieces from Dollar Stores and Value Village.
I did not want to use words in these pieces and the challenge has been to build an experience which resonates and speaks using purely visual means.
Besides the hairpieces, I have incorporated other elements such as nails, beads and mirrors and I have used the inherent properties of these elements, shininess, sharpness etc, suggestively, so that a psychological profile emerges from the work. The titles of the works, e.g. Gossip, Seduction, Betrayal, assist in clarifying the thrust of each work.
These pieces encompass my formal instincts, and my predilection for structure and abstraction, but added to these is a focused narrative exposition.
– Sharon Thompson
About the Artist
Sharon Thompson
For Sharon Thompson, painting is a primary way to explore and connect with self, society and Mother Earth. Her painting practice has two branches—an abstract branch and a landscape and floral branch. She is attracted to landscape and floral painting, “for the opportunity to connect to the beauty, strength and power of the earth,” she explains, and to abstract painting,” for its capacity to express and explore from inside, what it means to be alive and human.” She loves how the two practices support, nourish and expand each other.
She was born and raised on a small farm outside Peterborough Ontario. Her chief joy as a child was roaming the surrounding hills and woods. Family camping trips exposed her to the wonders of the wilderness of Northern Ontario. “This joy and the sense of oneness I felt with nature as a child,” she said, “ would become a primary source for my future art making”.