Since the late ’90’s I’ve been developing a way of mixed media collage I call ‘fabric layerism’ where the collage elements dominate the structure and surface area of the picture. It involves combining paint with many types of coloured, patterned and textured fabrics, and sometimes coloured and reflective papers and found objects. In more recent works, paint is omitted from the picture altogether….It is extending on some of the collage ideas of the 20th century, particularly Matisse, who with his later cut out works used scissors as expressively as drawing and sculpting…In the ’90’s I began by adding fragments of various collage to paint, similar to the way Australian artist Brett Whiteley did in his work. In time I realised that cutting out larger areas of fabric in fluid shapes which follow the form of an object; i.e, vase, tree, figure etc was a great starting point for a picture….Over the next few years, I found the subject of female form to be beautifully suited to this sensuous and curvaceous way of collage. The fabric bases also act as canvasses in their own right, supplying a variety of textures and patterns to then paint and draw on. This is a similar process to traditional oil or acrylic painting where one can paint several layers until one arrives at the desired image, but with the added unique reflective and textured effects of fabrics etc..The paints and brushes are largely replaced by scissors and glue. To a degree this was done in Cubism, Pop Art, and Abstract Expressionism, the difference being that fabric layerism is more in line with post modern re entry into representation. Though my images are representational, there is plenty of abstraction within the picture, with the layerism being horizontal as well as vertical; there are interesting tensions where areas of fabric meet with areas of paint…… Mark Ewenson 2012
See also 2013 interview with Celeste Hawkins on her blog: ‘The art and the curious’
http://www.theartandthecurious.com.au/layer-upon-layerthe-art-of-mark-ewenson/
This gallery contains some of the key ‘mixed media’ figure works done between 1999-2010. Comprised of oil and acrylic painting with fabrics, pva, and other collage elements, these works show the evolution and precursor of what would later become Fabric Layerism which eliminates the use of paint… Below is another gallery with close up details. To see very close up detail, click on the ‘view full size’ link in each picture info, then click again on the image to magnify…
21. SOLD
48. $500 ready to hang
44. SOLD
19a. SOLD
30. SOLD
28. $2300 ready to hang
33. $2100 ready to hang
SOLD
47. SOLD
36. $1900 unframed
38. $1400 unframed
18a. $300 unframed
25. SOLD
31. SOLD
22. SOLD
24. $900 ready to hang
49. SOLD
41. $1200 unframed
46. SOLD
45. $3600 ready to hang
27. SOLD
32. $2200 ready to hang
20 $2390 ready to hang
37. $3300 ready to hang
35. SOLD
34. $800 unframed
50. $2000 ready to hang
29. SOLD
17. $2900 ready to hang
23. $1900 ready to hang
39. $900 ready to hang
42. $1700 unframed
43. SOLD
Close up details
detail of ‘Yasmin in silver pants’
detail/angle of ‘Yasmin in green bakini’
detail of ‘Belinda interior’
detail of ‘Yasmin in green bakini’
detail of ‘Pink Hair’
detail of ‘Woman with cane chair’
detail of ‘Belinda interior’
Detail of ‘Yasmin smoking’
detail of ‘Annie interior 2’
detail of ‘Lady in paisley’
Detail of Yasmin in paisley
Fabric Layerism ~ Mark Ewenson 