Anne-Marie May – Felt Paintings

Invitation

Installation

Anne-Marie May

Untitled, 1994

felt on modern stretcher, 1230 x 1125mm

Anne-Marie May

Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays), 1994

felt on modern stretcher, 1230 x 1125mm

Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays), 1993

felt on modern stretcher, 1220 x 915mm

Anne-Marie May

Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays), 1994

felt on modern stretcher, 1230 x 1125mm

Anne-Marie May

Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays), 1993

felt on modern stretcher, 1220 x 860mm

Photos by Cheska Brown

Anne-Marie May, Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays), 1992-94

The series Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays) was first conceived in the early 1990s in terms of painting and the pictorial, although the materiality of these works suggests otherwise. At that time, I wanted to (re)construct painting using everyday fabrics, such as blue-grey denim or brightly coloured felt. I was also engaged, as I still am today, in the performative aspects of making. By repeating simple manual processes such as cutting, folding, wrapping and stapling I was able to realise variation within a limited set of parameters.

The action of diagonally wrapping strips of material across and around a stretcher frame was in keeping with the D.I.Y ethos of those years. Similarly, I chose to work with inexpensive and familiar materials more often associated with fashion or craft. My intention was to playfully disrupt the legacy of certain approaches to Minimalism that favoured industrial modes of production and, though not purposefully didactic, these fabric paintings could more subtly be understood as ‘prochoice’ for female creativity and representation.

The first ray paintings were Untitled (Constructions of Grey Rays), two series of small-scale works made in 1991 from denim. In 1992, I moved away from denim and shifted to using felt as my primary material. A group of four felt works Untitled (Constructions of Coloured Rays) was exhibited at the artist-run gallery Store 5 in Prahran in Melbourne in 1993, while a second series was shown in Melbourne in 1994 at Gertrude Contemporary (formerly known as 200 Gertrude Street). Both series were multi-coloured and much larger in scale than the earlier versions in denim. Crossing over at the midpoint of each painting, the vibrant bands of felt create radiating forms that generate optical vibration.