Smooth, Layered Forms: Art by Ashleigh Bartlett


An abstract painting composed of flat, coloured formsBig Curl, oil on canvas

Ashleigh Bartlett, our featured artist of the day, currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts, where she creates her fabric-like and painted artworks. Smooth, layered forms dominate her paintings, which echo her canvas paper works yet are somehow more voluminous. Usually working with a mixture of acrylic and oil paint, Ashleigh paints images that are glossy and vibrant.

 


A sheet of painted canvas paper that has been cut and hung on a wallPink Wig, acrylic on canvas paper

I like the way that Ashleigh uses layers in all of her work – in her fabric pieces she combines different samples, or simply folds many pieces of fabric or canvas paper over on themselves, allowing for a bit of mystery even in forms that appear simplistic at first. This is particularly true of her paintings, because they are static and two dimensional, a viewer can’t simply walk around the piece to view it from a different angle – thus they require a more prolonged view, and some speculation as to what the bright, large, central shape might be hiding.

 


A painting with abstract, layered shapes in grey and neutral tonesEmpty Mask, oil and acrylic on panel

Written by: Dallas Jeffs
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