The use of the (philosophical) interior in art.

22/04/2024

Author: Tammy Woodrow

A few weeks ago, I visited a play in Birmingham written by my friend Vanessa Oakes. The scenery on stage was simple but effective, just a chair and the occasional projections in the background. But in combination with the actors and the text it resulted in an emotive experience. It made me realize that you don't need many props to tell a story, to set a background for a narrative. The same could apply to any other form of visual art.

When you think of restrained domestic settings from an art history point of view, famous examples like the works by Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (15 May 1864 – 13 February 1916) come to mind. This one is titled Interior, Sunlight on the Floor (1906).
(image source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/vilhelm-hammershoi-1245)

I would call it painterly mindfulness. We are all currently trying to practice this state of mind in our own lives. Trying to slow time down, being in the moment, being conscious of what you are doing with your life, appreciating the here and now. The emptiness of the room also stirs up your imagination; what has happened here, who is coming through the door, where is
everybody?

A more local example of ‘less is more’ painting is the artist David Tindle RA (b.1932).
Decades ago he used to live in Leamington Spa (Leam Terrace). Leamington Spa Art
Gallery; Museum’s collection includes two of his works: Door Slightly Open (1978) and High Room (1989). They are well worth a viewing to appreciate them fully.

When I used to work at that gallery these 2 paintings always caught my eye because they are so unusual, being so empty and mysterious. They draw you into their space. Why is it so fascinating to look at an empty space? Although they appear so calm because nothing is happening, there is at the same time an unspoken tension in the atmosphere. There is such a sense of tranquillity and the peacefulness oozing out of his paintings and they are so recognizable because of Tindle’s signature style, his muted palette and use of his favourite medium egg tempera on masonite. In David’s own words: “It is a dry powder pigment mixed with egg and water and it’s a very ancient medium used by Renaissance artists. It is a very fine, very, transparent sort of paint, and it dries very quickly, it also doesn’t yellow, whereas some early renaissance paintings are amazingly clear others done as recently as the 19th Century look very black.” To me this rapid act of working against time, contradicts what he is trying to say with his painting of deep, slow time. He attempts to capture that floating moment from his own memory. David also prepared his own panels by coating Masonite (hardboard) with layers of mixture of chalk and rabbit glue. He used this process in order to create a smooth, hard brilliant white surface. This method absorbs paint very quick, so the painting is very difficult to alter. Don’t you already have to be in a certain way of mindfulness when you start this painting process? You would have to be extremely focused.

The only objects in Tindle’s High Room are a table and a bunch of flowers. What do these objects signify, memories? There is stillness and silence in his work, which seem to be the only narratives. He deals with tranquillity, the transience of light and the passage of time. David has lived in France and Italy, in search of that special sort of light. Like the early Italian masters, he is also exploring the mysteries of being.

UK Artists’ handpicked collection of professional artists also includes some great examples of room portrait artists. I would like to highlight a few of them who work with a similar subject matter like Tim Gilpin. His Yellow Belly (main image, acrylic on canvas, 2023) depicts a sparse enigmatic interior where there is an atmosphere of existential isolation.
This half-empty room evokes “a quality not of this world, a reflection of sublime existence,” as the art historian Julius Elias put it in 1916.

There is also Holy Chest (small image, oil on canvas) by Luiza Grabda Pawluc.
This painting immediately conjures up traces of Renaissance painting because of its implementation of light and interior perspectives. There are more objects, but the artist still gives us in a very clever way tense stillness and space for our own imagination to fill in the storyline.

Blue Chair (acrylic on primed paper, acrylics with pastel brushings) by Ian Allred is another talented artist of the UK Artists’ collection who I can’t leave out of this assembly.
The Nordic coolness from my first historic example is apparent here. Also, the way the chair is only half visible in the composition creates a deep sense of tension. You could never bore of looking at this scenery because it keeps creating more questions than answers.

To conclude let’s have a look at Lumière Fantôme (oil on block canvas, image continues around the edges, ready to hang, 2022) by Lee Campbell.
This is a more playful and colourful variation on this theme of subdued interiors. However, that doesn’t stop it from seeping in delightful otherworldliness.

Tammy Woodrow