ART IN LOCKDOWN

Section 3: ISOLATION

Some artists expressed their thoughts or feelings about lockdown itself within their work or their processes.

Control
“Made during Lockdown, this is one of a series of experimental concrete pieces.  I am exploring the contrast of natural and man-made and expressing the turmoil within the shape with hundreds of graphite scribbles.”
Ali Clarke
“I started these before lockdown , print transfer and collage , in France. They’ve turned into dreams and memories,  floating and travelling while contained.”
Louise Severyn-Kosinska
The Town House of Correction 
(A Prison Of My Own Making)
“It’s all made of oak. I had to work with the materials available, but time has been unusually plentiful so I have been able to build up this structure. There are more than 60 separate pieces of oak so far, each cut and finished by hand from the odds and ends I had in the garage. Oh, and 35 nails, a tiny piece of brass and a pair of hinges (the door opens :-).
Superficially it represents confinement and is, perhaps, something any of us can relate to now. But it’s also about the limitations we place upon ourselves – the arbitrary rules and norms of our own behaviour, why we do some things and don’t do others. I hope it will be ready for our exhibition in September. “
Pete Swann
“These are all a part of a series “One Hundred Thousand Surfaces”. The idea is to use what I already have around me in the studio to manipulate and alter surface in as many ways as possible. The concept being that through their original deconstruction and destruction new forms emerge by being ‘fixed’.
For instance by continuously drilling through the surface of board I am finding ways of ‘fixing’
I had started this pre lockdown but now the breaking up has become more severe!
Sometimes there is nothing left except fixing materials. I am playing around with wire mesh, wool, pieces of MDF and any bits I have in the studio to create installations where each piece shows a different surface and connections between them.”
Sandra Beccarelli
‘Time’  series
“I was rummaging in my favourite place for some potential textile fabrics when the lady told me the provenance of the calico fabric I had in my hand; it’d previously been used to wrap coffins!  With an odd relevance, I decided that now was the perfect occasion to use this fabric, complete with its pierced lines of undone seams and bits of clinging pale blue thread.
During this extraordinary ‘lockdown’ period, I have embarked on a series of time-based textile pieces responding to my immediate thoughts, feelings and emotions of the unfolding events. I had real uninterrupted time, to put to this project.
I use carefully selected industry waste textiles. I embrace chance and the unpredictable. I respond to nature, in particular foraged plant material. I work with my obsessive collecting habit. I explore process-led activities to communicate. Individual samples and fragments are collaged and joined to make larger pieces through stitch, all the time thinking about balance, composition, meaning and metaphor. 
This current series is a work still in progress with the word ‘time’ central to its theme. Rather than embarking on a pre-planned work, the process and development dictates the outcome. I have enjoyed the play on words for this series. The work is fragile, layered and ephemeral; of a time in itself.”
Armi Maddison
Lockdown
I packed up my studio, bringing home oil paints, canvas & easel.
I made myself a workspace. It was hot!
I cleaned and organised. I made sourdough and planted runner beans in pots.
Politics and daily briefings were overwhelming. We clapped.
Time passed…
I was annoyed with myself when I saw everyone producing work as usual on social media.
I started making myself do a quick sketch every day.
But this was like being on holiday!
I still couldn’t concentrate….
Politics and daily briefings were still overwhelming.
Some of my artist friends were organising Zoom art classes. I’d sign up! 
I did watercolours with BA and drawing with SK.
Thank you…
This helped: Playing with materials I haven’t used for years.
I still haven’t approached the easel.
But now I’m making….
K
“This painting is intended to be part of a series based loosely on a story idea I have about the damage we are doing to our world. These ideas formed before recent events and lockdown, and have seemed more and more prophetic as the days have passed by!”
Maggie Tompkins

Marooned, 40×40 cm, acrylic and pigment on canvas.

“Recently reviewing a purely abstract painting from early lockdown, I suddenly saw this agonised, panic stricken human figure suspended in a section of the canvas. ‘Marooned’ is how I probably felt when I subconsciously painted it, as well referring to the predominant colour.”
Chris Holley

Click to see more Art in Lockdown: People |  Nature 

If this post has inspired you to think about adding to your collection, have a look at our website for ideas: Past Exhibitions, and Upcoming Shows and get in touch!