REMARKABLE AND CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

HEIDI LOCHER

Heidi Locher, Unmarked (19th November 2009)
Oil on canvas, 120cm x 88cm

Heidi Locher graduated as an Architect from the RCA and went on to set up her own cutting edge modern architectural practice, Paxton Locher Architects. She has recently completed a Masters in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins. After graduating with distinction, she has been involved in both group shows and solo shows. Most recently she has shown at The Blyth Gallery, The Jerwood Space and her gallery The Rod Barton Gallery in Clerkenwell. She is part of the AM Bruno Group who represent current artistic thought, practice and sensibility translated and expanded into book art form. Most recent project, Project 101.

Heidi Locher writes: My work is about the loaded brush – the marks being able to hold emotion – like the rush of seeing someone you are physically attracted to, which can take your breath away and be totally overpowering. Your eyes engage, then your brain, and a whole igniting process begins. The evocative materiality of paint is crucial in my work. Using the paint like a skin, flesh and blood, the experience should be like making love - basic, visceral, real life.

My paintings hold recurring themes of sex, violence, obsession, fantasy, and the nuance of gesture. At the heart lie buried memories, deep neurotic emotions, and the locus of pain – that sensuous truth.

In my previous work, I have dealt with issues that are unspoken and concealed, hidden behind the heavy door or down the dark corridor. Using the smeary sensualness of paint and the monumentality of concrete I am attempting to convey these veiled bodily utterances, the dark and the terrible and to explore the inevitable link between intimacy and discomfort – those conflicting moments between paranoia and bliss, the point where sex and death intersect. In my current work I have been exploring identity both personal and political, through the notion of the portrait. Is my expression marked or unmarked. Using the paint as liquid flesh and light I wish to convey through these portraits this struggle.

Heidi Locher, Unmarked (19th November 2009)
Oil on canvas, 130cm x 93cm

Click here for Heidi Locher's website

HEIDI LOCHER'S CONVERSATIONS AND INTERACTIONS:

Alex at Blue Fin, a conversation with Alex Dewart

Forum at Joanna's, a conversation hosted by Joanna Hill

Remarkable Bookshelf a project by Cally Trench