Gallery Magazine

Local artist Virginia Colback is currently displaying work blending drawing and painting from her latest collection entitled L’Etacq Quarry studies 1,2,3 at Studio 18 in their summer exhibition.

Combining a mix of media including oil, conte and pastel on canvas, the work celebrates landscape, especially cliffs and rockfaces, and the creative process behind it. By showing the process of painting, Virginia reveals the nuts and bolts of the artist’s metier. Virgina told me she is not into realism, “I can take a photo if I want a realistic landscape.”

Influenced by artists such as Antoni Tapies, Cy Twombly, Zao Wou-ki and Sarah Adams, these pieces culminate several months of work of quarries and other subjects at her Westmount studio. Since graduating from Plymouth University in 2006 with an art degree, Virgina has been working on the 4 pieces on and off, making changes and re-visiting them where needed. When speaking of the work in progress, Virgina found that her technique changed and developed over time so she needed to return to the 2nd and third paintings and rework them to bring them up to the quality of the 4th painting
By painting landscapes, Virgina hopes to improve and develop her technique through studio practice and through dedicating her life to this work, believing it will take the rest of her life to improve. In terms of what the future holds, Virgina has applied for residences in Paris and Dinan for next year. The Dinan residency run by Maison de la Vigne museum at the port, provides accommodation and ask the artist to give one piece of work to the town of Dinan. These residencies are often international in flavour, providing rich intercourse between artists from different cultures. Without a residency, she plans to rent a studio in Brittany or Normandy for a couple of months as she is particularly interested in the menhirs and dolmen in South Brittany . At present, Virgina is continuing with her quarry series including four large panelsof Portlet common, eight smaller canvasses of Plemont and one large study of Plemont.

Two of these pieces will be entered in the JJ Fox competition this month.

To view more of Virginia’s work visit:
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile//3374.html
www.thisisjersey.co.uk/art/virginiacolback/index.html
Available to buy at Studio 18.

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