Nathan, Janet
Janet Nathan's works are constructed from a variety of materials - pieces of old boats, driftwood, discarded parts of implements, crates and furniture. Many have been salvaged from the Thames, and all show the natural erosion that occurs on abandoned objects. However, this is often deceptive, as some of the wood has been carefully painted and reworked in her studio to imitate a weathered appearance, so playfully manipulating what we can see and what we assume we can see. As one writer noted, her work is a series of 'constructed fictions rather than assemblages of facts'.
Certain shapes recur in Nathan's works, in particular those which suggest the natural world: the elliptical shape of the sun, domes of ecclesiastical buildings, the sea horizon, the swell of an ox-bow lake and the curve of a river bank. Resin has featured in her work for a number of years, and she exploits its reflective qualities to suggest the sensation of light on water. However, the abstract qualities of colour, shape and texture in 'Fairway' concern her as much as the associations conveyed by the forms.
Ann Jones
- Artwork Details: 120 x 89 x 10cm
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- Material description: mixed media on wood
- Credit line: © the artist
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- Accession number: ACC3/2006