Painting by Lisa McKendrick

I allow my paintings to “happen” like a Freudian slip or a slip of the tongue. In doing this I am able to tap into archetypal imagery, symbols and fragments of the psyche in a backdrop of landscapes that seem remote and out of this world. Here, I playfully master the technique of catching the painting while it isn’t looking.

Within my work there is a romanticisation of the road trip and the freedom which it symbolises. The car is used as a symbol for access to a psychological space which is open to interpretation. A space filled with objects and figures of the exotic, mythical or people doing ordinary things. The landscapes which dominate the paintings extend beyond the idyllic prettiness of the pastoral as they embrace the charm and grit of the real world on the brink of both enlightenment and decay. This psychological space is intermingled with debris which protrudes, floats or falls inside the canvas and baffles the narrative.

When trying to pin-point a specific place the work could be referencing a range of things from American novels, road trip films, Australian, New Zealand landscapes, the Mexican desert to the open roads of Europe and Britain. The landscapes are alive with the possibility of adventure and exploring new territories. Imagery within the work seems to melt into familiar narratives where we are reminded of Alfred Hitchcocks "Psycho", Jack Kerouacs "Lonesome Traveller" or "On the Road" or even David Lynch's "Lost Highway" and J.G. Ballard's "Crash".

Using images found in films or family slides found in car boot sales or scanned slides found while searching the internet I am able to work with amateur photographs or cinematic imagery. Often I find discarded slides with images of holidays or pictures of people standing next to their car or house. I find this imagery interesting to work with as the people are unfamiliar to me but the images arouse a curiosity which I explore in my work.!