Maureen Finn’s three-word paintings try to throw you off. Or draw you in. The choice is always yours.
Each of the large oil paintings goes through a similar process. They begin as a direct emotional response to a place familiar to the artist. Then, when the immersion reaches a certain point of saturation, the three-word title is introduced. Titles are generated electronically via geo-location software, revealing the exact place, whether that be a rock sited at the entrance to a cave or a remote spot on the side of a mountain.
The three-part title introduces unexpected words in accidental juxtaposition into the painting process. For the artist, it is difficult to ignore them. The geo-language disrupts and merges with the paint surface. Representations of words and concepts are subtle but also dominant when you notice them. In each painting there is a playful braiding of deep knowing and linguistic chance. While the multiple elements refuse to sit comfortably, together these paintings create a space that could be of nowhere else.
Location is everything. In Finn’s smaller digital paintings, old and new associations project onto the landscape. History, geology, flora and waterways cut through the land and press on your senses. In these prints the artist transforms familiar places by morphing oil painting and digital technology. The results are both abstract and literal. Where you see yourself in them is left very much up to you.
Maureen Finn was born in Kintyre on the west coast of Scotland and graduated from Glasgow School of Art. Group and solo exhibitions include at Springbank Distillery, the Compass Gallery, Flying Colours and Mercury Gallery, Edinburgh and London. She has been selected for exhibitions at the Society of Scottish Artists and the Royal Scottish Academy.
Maureen has paintings in several public and private collections including the BBC, Glasgow City Council, Art in Healthcare and Tim Sayer Collection, soon to be part of the Hepworth, Wakefield.