Ena Swansea American, b. 1966
yellow fields, 2010
Oil and graphite on canvas
152 x 121 cm; (59 7/8 x 47 5/8 in.)
Copyright The Artist
Yellow Fields, 2010, demonstrates Ena Swansea’s use of photographic reference material and her focus on perception and memory. The painting shows the view from an airplane window, with the aircraft...
Yellow Fields, 2010, demonstrates Ena Swansea’s use of photographic reference material and her focus on perception and memory. The painting shows the view from an airplane window, with the aircraft wing cutting across the upper half of the composition and rectangular fields below rendered in alternating patches of yellow and green. Swansea works with oil and graphite on canvas, building her surfaces on a dark ground made from powdered graphite. This priming method creates a reflective surface that subtly shifts depending on the light. She applies thin layers of colour over this base, allowing the image to remain open and unfixed. The painting reflects her interest in the intersection of industrial infrastructure and landscape, as well as the way memory alters visual experience.