Carly Bates’ paintings interpret light in multiple layers and explore its capacity for warmth and energy and how light triggers personal memories.
The paintings that she creates contain an atmospheric feel to them that attempt to invoke a sense of familiarity and comfort of past experience but also suggest uncertainty of the present and future.
“To create the suggestion of light in my work, everything but the light itself is depicted. Objects are broken down into colour and paint is applied using several layers of glaze. The thin layers of different coloured glazes build upon each other allowing actual light to travel through and developing a similar radiance experienced in real light”.
The subject matter of the paintings was developed as a result of Bates’ recollection of light fixtures from the rooms where she grew up. These paintings offer the viewer an opportunity to interpret light in multiple layers and make reference to different layers of light that reveal a variety of emotional responses and feelings.
