‘Thin Skins’
Claire Shakespeare and Dominique Garraud
‘Thin Skins’
Claire Shakespeare and Dominique Garraud
14th September to 9th November 2024
We are pleased to bring together paintings by London-based artist Claire Shakespeare and Bristol-based Dominique Garraud in this two-person show at Irving Gallery. A small collection of unframed works on paper by both artists is also available to purchase alongside the exhibition.
Claire Shakespeare
Claire Shakespeare (b. 1998, Stourbridge, UK) lives and works in London having graduated in Fine Art Painting (BA Hons) at the University of Brighton in 2022.
Their practice captures the everyday experience through an investigation of improvisation and chance within painting. Shakespeare has had two solo shows including ‘Wobbly Knee’ with Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne in 2023 and ‘Frontal Dancer’ at the Fitzrovia Gallery, London in 2022.
"Driven by impulse and material processes, works incorporate the act of painting as a means of searching for familiarity in the unknown. Work is led not by the destination, but to embrace the unknowability and accidental within its own creation. Through processes of scraping back a painterly excess and re-layering, previous unfinished works are resurrected allowing re-occurring motifs to unexpectedly align and reveal new paintings. With tactile surfaces, ambiguous motifs move sinuously between semi-abstraction and figurative objects. Works often suggest parts of the body or landscapes, and in turn become visual innuendos." - Claire Shakespeare, 2024
Dominique Garraud
Bristol-based artist Dominique Garraud explores themes of the human condition, memory, senses, emotion, loss and vulnerability; drawing inspiration from the unexpected attachments relating to recollection, perception and how these themes intertwine and sit (often uncomfortably) beside each other.
Using painting ‘...as a way in - a way to start the conversation…’ Garraud pays homage to the idea of the seen and unseen; expanding on her interest in how layering, exposing, deconstructing and repositioning materials interplay - from the tactile folds of the heavyweight canvas to the purposefully irregular cutting of delicate intersecting layers of individually painted fabric.
“Movement and the unfolding of transitional abstract gestures play an integral role in my work – intertwining these accents allows the introduction of personal histories, disclosure, and informal figurative resemblance to intuitively translate, reveal and form their own narratives.”
The result of this intuitive process, allows Garraud’s work to be self-defining - not confined to a linear artistic approach, which comes through in her dynamic, considered, and impactful compositions.
Click on any image below for full details
Claire Shakespeare, ‘Raw Crevice’ (2023) | Oil, acrylic, pigment and paper on canvas | 48 x 38 cm | £580
Dominique Garraud, ‘Informal Gatherings’ (2023) | Oil, acrylic, oil stick and paper calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 50 x 40 cm | £1,150
Dominique Garraud, ‘Thin Skins’ (2022) | Oil calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 50 x 40 cm | £1,150
Dominique Garraud, ‘Perfumed Hum’ (2024) | Oil, acrylic and watercolour wraparound calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 20 x 20 x 3 cm | £435
Dominique Garraud, ‘Mother Lawn’ (2024) | Oil, acrylic and watercolour wraparound calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 20 x 20 x 3 cm | £435
Claire Shakespeare, ‘Rough Tongue, Green Lip’ (2023) | Oil and enamel on wood | 18 x 22 cm | £390
Claire Shakespeare, Untitled (2023) | Oil, acrylic, pigment and paper on board | 22 x 17 cm | £390
Claire Shakespeare, Untitled (2023) | Oil, acrylic and paper on board | 31.5 x 23 cm | £500
Claire Shakespeare, ‘N’ (2023) | Oil, enamel and wool on canvas | 30 x 38 cm | £480
Claire Shakespeare, ‘Member’ (2023) | Oil, acrylic and paper on canvas | 66 x 46 cm | £620
Dominique Garraud, 'Come back to what you once knew (I think of you little and often)’ | Oil and acrylic calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 60 x 50 cm | £1,300
Dominique Garraud, 'The still that I hold, this state that I'm in' | Oil, acrylic and soft pastel calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 40 x 40 cm | £1,100
Dominique Garraud, ‘I sink, you fall’ (2023) | Mixed media calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 60 x 50 cm | £1,300
Dominique Garraud, 'To Speak Amongst Ourselves' | Oil and acrylic calico collage on prepared heavyweight cotton canvas | 30 x 42 cm | £835
Works on Paper
Dominique Garraud, ‘Pity Party’ | 2024 | 41cm x 30cm | Mixed media collage on paper | £565 (unframed)
Dominique Garraud, ‘Feeble Fable’ | 2024 | 21cm x 30cm | Mixed media collage on paper | £425 (unframed)
Claire Shakespeare, 'Leaky Orchid' (2023) | Pen, pencil and watercolour on paper | 22 x 15 cm | £215
Claire Shakespeare, 'Awkward and Flopped' (2023) | Pen, pencil, wax crayon and gouache on paper | 20 x 14 cm | £215
Claire Shakespeare, 'Phthalocyanine Lace' (2023) | Pen and pencil on paper | 20 x 14 cm | £215
Claire Shakespeare, 'Tub' (2023) | Pen, pencil and wax crayon on paper | 15 x 10 cm | £185
Claire Shakespeare, 'Beedy' (2023) | Watercolour pencil and crayon on paper | 22 x 15 cm | £215
Claire Shakespeare, 'Floret' (2023) | Pen, pencil and wax crayon on paper | 15 x 10 cm | £185
Claire Shakespeare, 'Hair' (2023) | Acrylic and pencil on paper | 15 x 10 cm | £200
Claire Shakespeare, 'Spider Hair' (2023) | Acrylic and pencil on paper | 15 x 10 cm | £200