FABRIC/KEN
Craig Cameron Mackintosh

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PRIOR Art Space Berlin

FABRIC/KEN

PRIOR Art Space presents a solo exhibition for Cuperior Collection Artist-in-Residence Craig Cameron-Mackintosh, ‘FABRIC/KEN’ opening in our Berlin space 10th June

Craig Cameron-Mackintosh (b.1987, South Africa) is a painter who is best known for his oil portraits. His background in filmmaking has influenced his style of portraiture that referenc- es camera and photographic effects like silhouettes, overexposure and blurriness.

“This series of oil paintings, collages and spray paint portraits celebrates the process of cre- ating an artwork as much as the finished product itself. Setting up a new studio in Berlin for a limited period of time called for different processes, optimised techniques, new materials and shortcuts – a form of ‘industrial engineering’ of portraiture, you could say. Fittingly, my studio is located in an area that owes its existence to an industrial boom in Berlin during the industrial revolution, with many factories or ‘Fabriken’ populating the area.

Fabric; the essence and foundation of all things both metaphorically and physically, is a great keyword to have in my mind as I embark on a new body of work in Berlin. Using spray paint in my portraits is not only a nod to the overwhelming presence of graffiti in the city but a perfect medium to implement for immediacy and quick results. The use of makeshift stencils also adds to the feeling that I’m not so much painting portraits as ‘constructing’ them. Starting by carefully stitching together eighteen A3 printouts to form one massive im- age, then cutting out the figure and finally placing the cut-out on the canvas and spraying the background only to reveal a perfect ‘negative silhouette’ of my subject when the stencil is removed. Beginning with the background turns my familiar process on its head but is in line with the idea of ‘positive and negative’ elements seen in photography.

Other more experimental works in this series make use of my crude stencils and spray paint, many of the results left raw, with the workings of the portraits exposed. Nothing precise, nothing perfectly aligned and making the most of the parallels that the spray paint medium has with photographic effects like soft focus and colour distortion.

This is a series about light, transparency and opacity, stencils that hide and then reveal, and fabric that distorts colour and light, which is not only referenced but used as filters in the application of the spray paint itself. It’s a celebration of the experimental process of creating art and exploring different ways to express myself in portraiture in a limited timeframe.”

- Craig Cameron-Mackintosh