Martha Parsey is a painter and film-maker living and working in Cologne, Germany. She currently has a solo exhibition being held at Die Kunstagentin in the Belgium Quarter, Cologne.
Your women have an intoxicating presence. They are powerful,
enchanting, and feminine. Have women always been the focus of your work and
what do they mean to you?
Women haven’t always been the focus of my work, in fact when
I first started painting I painted almost exclusively men. But I read a quote
the other day which read ‘The woman is
not really a person, but an entity inhabiting spaces, commanding the gaze of
those who surround her.’ And I thought about this that perhaps the women are a
tool to trap the gaze of the viewer and entice their interest into the interior
of the painting. I think my women have great feminine attributes that transcend
the limitations of that phrase, because they not only attract the gaze of the
viewer but command it, they not only inhabit the space of the picture but in a
sense rule over it.
A strong sense of fashion and design are apparent in the
paintings. Where does this interest come from?
From photography. Photography mimics painting, particularly
fashion photography takes it’s aesthetic, framing and poses from classical
painting, so I’m taking it back but in a much more abbreviated form.
You are
also a filmmaker. How entwined are the two practices?
If you’re
talking about ways of looking and perception, then film-making and painting are
totally connected because we can’t talk about images anymore without thinking
about how photography and film has completely altered our way of looking at and
perceiving things visually.
But in
actual practice, painting is a totally different and a much more physical and
immediate process than making films. Making films is about teamwork, convincing
people to give you the means to realise ideas and it has limitations because of
it’s complexity and the amount of people involved that painting doesn’t have. I
have an idea in painting and I can give that idea form almost instantly. I work
fast, and it is an enormous pleasure to experience the image emerge and take on
a life right before me. People forget when they look at painting the very
physical nature of it, how physically involved you are while making it. There’s
a relationship there, a struggle, and the whole process that is going on is far
more unconscious, allowing room for accident. No one can allow you the freedom
in film to experiment like I do with paint in the studio.
You move
between London, Berlin and Cologne. Do you find the cities engage with your
work differently?
Yes, definitely. In London they see the German influences, and
in Berlin and Cologne, the English ones, which always really amuses me- the
grass is always greener... There are things that are obviously easier for
people in London to understand because of the familiarity with where I come
from- the mixture of a long tradition in figurative/portrait painting with a
design element from British pop art, and the titles lose some of their humour
when you explain them. But Berlin has this marvellous openness, it’s a really
open city that is very exciting and almost limitless, one that when I moved
there opened me up completely. Cologne is where I turn this all into something
real and work hard.
When did you first know you wanted to be an artist?
When I was a kid I was an actress and for a long time I was
certain that’s what I wanted to do because I really enjoyed acting. I moved
from acting into wanting to make films as I’d always been on set and seen how
films were made. I made short films and then two documentaries about Francis
Bacon and through them I got to know David Sylvester, who taught me about
painting. I’d studied film and fine art so it was a natural and logical step
for me to move into painting.
In 5 words describe your work:
Look at it and see...
What are you looking forward to within the next 12 months?
The summer! And completing a new series of work I’ve just
embarked on which is really very exciting.
When I’m not painting I’m …
Having a laugh with my kids and enjoying life now.
Martha Parsey
'Out on a Limb'
11 February - 15 March, 2012
Maastrichterstr. 26
Köln, Germany
