Existing comment:
JANE KELL
Road to Nowhere
Oil paint and pastel on canvas
30 x 30 in.
Courtesy of the artist
ARTIST STATEMENT
I feel this painting captures something of the weird, overwrought atmosphere of the first few weeks of COVID-19. It was painted in a rather dark, makeshift corner of my bedroom during snatched moments in March 2020. Tensions were running high, and I was finding it frustrating not being able to work. I found myself drawn to a stash of old reference photographs taken by my late father. He had taped two photographs of this view together to create one image and there was something appealing about the heavy sky and the mysterious road disappearing into the distance.
When I painted the picture, I felt there was a desolate and haunted feeling that captured how I, and perhaps others, were feeling at the time. There was so much fear and uncertainty about the future. In the painting, there is a brooding sky and a sense of foreboding. I had no idea where the road depicted was, or would end up; it really was a "road to nowhere." |