Rose McMurray
Rose McMurray is a recent graduate from Leeds Arts University.
'In Rodin's sculpture, the male body is the one that thinks, while the female body is a receptacle for (re)production...' (Blessing. 2015 p.9).
Rose McMurray's paintings seek to address issues of gender roles which are embedded within society; the premise that a male must be muscular and courageous to be admired and the female must appear modest and beautiful to be worthy of respect. She is portrayed in a manner supposedly befitting her higher purpose – to be a receptacle of reproduction. The female is seen passively awaiting adoration while the male is strong and exuding power. I intend to counter this by creating a juxtaposition in which the female embraces this dominant and unreserved nature while the male becomes vulnerable and submissive. This role-reversal is established through the use of body language as seen in classical depictions of the nude; the poses being intended to either show strength or subservience.
Within her paintings she plays with expressive mark making and layering of paint so that it brings the viewer closer to consider the overlapping tones. Finding the balance in the layering of the paint gives a sense of varying opacity and the tactile feeling of the fleshiness of the skin, as well as showing hints of previous marks and complimentary colours through the application of the paint overtime. Working with large scale, square brushes gives the sense of structure within the organic form and allows the work to keep a painterly quality, which is vital to how she portrays the figure, keeping the feeling of movement of the body. Her intrigue comes from the diversity of the figure in proportions, movement and anatomy and therefore it is important to be analytical. Working on a large scale, close to the figure being life size, demands attention and consideration from the viewer whilst giving a sense of being saturated in flesh and a more intimate interaction with the figure.