Elizabeth Humphries work has always involved an intense exploration of mark making processes: markings as a primary essence in language, as faint records of a presence in time, scratched drawn or written; crossing the divide between scripture and drawing.
Born in 1951, the daughter of artist / designers, initially she studied and worked as a designer but became involved in arts projects becoming a community and graffiti artist. Elizabeth graduated in Fine Arts from the Norwich School of Art and Design in 1979.
Her work is a continual observation of graffito and fresco, markings and hidden traces; revealing and concealing fragments of histories and presences. Panels are used to support a moulded and layered surface, scratched, peeled and scored to reveal layers within the making of the work. Pigments are used as stain or paint to assist in interest. Varnished paper is strong and resilient, often in deep relief, rigid enough to score or cut; an unreliable surface forming a plane of unexpected flaws and textures.
The monumental is ever present in Elizabeth’s work. She seeks a unique form, retaining histories deeply rooted but uncertain, allowing them to force through into the present – the industrial, the gothic, the monumental.
The recent canvases shown are a new departure, primarily concerned with the darker side of landscape, abandoned stacks and hinterlands, which hold their own form of mystery.
