Themes of color, traverse spaces, simplistic silhouettes of figures, quick brushstrokes that sweep across the cheek of the sitter, contrasted with a small, detailed, perfectly rendered eye, make up Loribelle Spirovski’s abstract figure paintings.
In a similar vein of Chaïm Soutine, Spirovski captures the true essence of an individual by bringing paint to the canvas in the most simplistic and quickest technique; thick, fast, textured brushstrokes frame the face, add depth to the cheek, and render the body of an individual.
Spirokvski was born to a Filipino mother and Yugoslav father and grew up in Australia. Art has always been an escape for her; a way for her to translate her melancholy and otherness as she processed the effect these three mutually exclusive cultures had on her life.
Through the process, she has come to appreciate the tension within space; how meaningful it can be to fill a space, to understand its capacity, and to distill an understanding of why this space is present.
The relationship fostered with space is a mindful meditation for Spriovski, where the challenge is to approach space as though for the first time, as though never seen before, as though seen through a child’s eyes.
These spaces are not negative, even when there are empty spaces in the background of her paintings, but aim to capture the freshness and energy of a sketch; how the quick nature of a sketch does not perfectly capture the individual’s detailed eyes, but instead capture the individuality and personality of the sitter, and draw into the illusion of character behind the silhouette.
There is more to the painting than the eye can see in these sketches.
Spriovski uses spaces to find herself within the space of a canvas. “These indirect self-portraits are distillations of my identity as a young woman, with all of my fixations, obsessions and anxieties.”
Each layer of her work, including that bottom layer which appears to be empty, examines the layers and hidden depths of the human condition.
By meditating over her work, expanding that empty space and seeking positivity out of this “negative space,” following the tension of each brushstroke and imagining the energy in applying paint to canvas, we can distill our identities as individuals, contemplating our own obsessions, fixations and identities, and looking at them through bright, clear eyes, understanding them not as negative aspects but as true amplifiers of our characters.
All artwork copyright the artist. Learn more: Loribelle Spirovski.
