Queen Aubergine

Sally Kindberg uses humour and uncanny motifs to embody emotional tension. Her impressive paintings are decipherable at first glance; yet dissolve into obscurity and planes of oily sheen upon visual contemplation. The artist skilfully sculpts objects and components of the body into exaggerated forms that appear taut and inflated, as though swollen with feelings of the mind and existential concern.

‘QUEEN AUBERGINE’ is an exhibition of oil paintings that have emerged from observational sketches and photographs. Kindberg works with no desired result in mind, and draws visual inspiration from her everyday surroundings, “I dig where I stand.” Living in London means she has easy access to many infamous art galleries and well-respected institutions, however Kindberg admittedly draws stimulus from her local church, gym, library, train station, doctor’s surgery, restaurants, etc. This commonplace approach is mirrored in her artworks as Kindberg reconfigures the familiar into an uncanny context with wit and macabre. This modesty allows, and ultimately calls for a celebration of the awkward and absurd occurrences of everyday, “I am glad the world is clumsy.”

The artist’s paintings are highly rendered and initially lucid despite the ambiguous content and blurred lines, which only dissolve further as the artworks unravel and begin to pose larger philosophical questions. Reality falls away as the viewer is entranced, suspending ones thoughts in the surreal illogic of dreams offered. With this re-contextualisation comes re-consideration, distortion and irrefutable light illuminates the metaphors embedded in the artist’s bathetic subjects. Ultimately Kindberg intends to demonstrate, through tragicomedy, the dichotomies of our both civilised and ludicrous society.