Chloe
Summerhayes

Chloe Summerhayes process-based paintings arrive somewhere between figuration and abstraction. Her current practice is informed by questions and ideas around the cyclical nature of ourselves and our environments. Depictions of Rubenesque putti reappear throughout the series suggesting narrative and inviting multiple interpretations arising around the image infants. Despite alluding to canonical narrative within an historical context, this imagery primarily is a starting point of an exercise in painterly abstraction. A methodical and conversational process is used to construct preliminary paintings. These works then become reference imagery for more paintings. The construction of the subsequent work is like a process reversal of the initial paintings they are born from. Completed over a few hours, these paintings have a limited palette and are made by wiping paint away. Ultimately seeking to make abstracted images of clarity, this repetitive way of working functions to shed unnecessary marks and create expressive and concise compositions.

Chloe is currently completing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury.

2017, Recipient of the Sawtell – Turner Prize in painting.

2018, Quick Mysteries, group show, Ilam Campus, Christchurch.

2019, Dismantle, solo show, The Art Hole, Christchurch.

2019, Journeying Inward, Performance work in collaboration with The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Bina Klose, Emily Napolitano and Robyn Webster.