Female forms from painter

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 23

Female forms from painter

By

ANABRIGHT HAY

Life-size lighted, female figures hanging from the ceiling may not be everyone’s idea of a lampshade but they do get noticed. Three such figures are included in Priscilla Blight’s first exhibition which opened at the Manawa Gallery in Cashel Street on Monday. Priscilla Blight, aged 24, graduated from the University of Canterbury with a bachelor of fine arts in painting last year.

The absurd and humourous nature of the three dimensional figures appeals to the painter but there is a more serious philosophy behind them. “I used an old shop manikin to make them and manikins conform to the unreal shape some men impose on models of women,” she said.

“None of the figures have arms and so are unreal and impracticable which is what the men have designed them to be.”

Fabric Interfacing, dyed and dipped in wallpaper paste, was applied to the manikin and left to dry before the base was removed leaving the hollow figure. Lights were then hung inside. “The light within us.”

In another three works from the exhibition, women appear trapped within their picture frames as their forms half emerge from the three relief paintings. The remaining three works are paintings done in oil and on board. The internal landscape of a person’s mind surrounds them in the painting. Red, white and black are the predominant col-

ours in the exhibition. The artist believes her work has benefited from this restricted palette.

She does not think of herself solely as a painter and has just finished a tour of New Zealand with the stilt walking group "Stalker.” The boundaries between art and theatre are blurred.

The Manawa Gallery director, Alan Chant, suggested Priscilla Blight mount an exhibition at the gallery after he saw a conceptual piece written by her performed at The Free Theatre in the Arts Centre early this year. Next year she plans to stilt walk at Expo ’BB in Brisbane. She will continue to collect ideas and use them in her art works.

The exhibition at the Manawa Gallery continues until Dec 11.