Wall to Wall - Red Lips

I found it difficult to respond to work initially as the painters work who started first were all quite figurative and I usually make spectacles based on abstracted drawings. Emilias work, the giant gash across the wall, was intitally not one I wanted to work with, but as she was one of the first to start painting I thought I would try and tackle responding to such a difficult and irregular shaped form. I thought about making something to go fully across the body but instead decided to focus on one section of the cut that will cover the face. I chose materials that I thought reflected the painting and its grotesque yet seductive subject matter which I why I have used silks, mesh and leather to try and created the different shades of reds. The brush strokes are visible in the painting and I wanted my piece to reflect this and have 'loose' marks of material. I think this could have been achieved better with more layering of different textures. I think the different materials make it quite confusing to the eye but also intrigue the viewer, as they are all quite tactile textures, and whilst it doesnt quite match the colour of the painting I think it still works when viewed from afar. To exaggerate this notion of the beautiful grotesque that I know Emilia wants to show in her work I think it would be exciting to cut a small hole in the centre of this piece then squirt ketchup out of it to make it look like blood oozing out of the cut. I think this will be gross but also be quite funny for the viewer. 

As it happens I did not have time to do the ketchup experiment before Emilia painted over her wall, but I was pleasantly surprised by how my work looked when infront of the painting. Whilst it does not camouflage completely, it adds a depth to the painting that was not there before because of the porous` and flat nature of the wall.