MARCH 7 - 27, 2005

application deadline: November 29, 2004

FIONA RAE, visual artist

British artist Fiona Rae's blend of painting styles borrows from a dizzying range of sources, from abstract art to comic books. Rae completed a foundation course at Croydon College of Art (1983–4) and her BFA at Goldsmiths' College, London (1984–7). Her reputation was quickly established with her inclusion in the exhibition Freeze (curated by fellow artist Damien Hirst in 1988). Rae was short-listed for the Turner Prize in 1991, and in 1993 for the Austrian Eliette Von Karajan Prize for Young Painters. Her work has been included in the Venice Biennale, and 'Sensation' at the Royal Academy, London and the Brooklyn Museum, New York. Rae’s highly colored, vivid abstract paintings draw on and develop a variety of formal, painterly motifs. Common to all her work is the self-conscious juxtaposition of flat areas of color with dragged, daubed paint marks. Although her compositions can appear accidental, almost arbitrary, close inspection reveals a highly controlled handling of paint and style and a tight underlying structure. As her work developed it has become more structured, and focused in a more condensed manner on certain motifs. Her approach to painting is based on a playful engagement with her predecessors, using both quotation and a repertoire of surface effects to suggest both the superficiality and self-absorption of the act of painting.

Residency Statement

One of the reasons I don't do much teaching is that I don't enjoy the rigid structures laid down for a visiting artist in British art schools. Although sometimes you do need to sit down one to one and talk for an hour, sometimes the most useful dialogues happen in a more casual, open-ended situation. I'm looking forward to the time at Atlantic Center because I think that everybody living on site for three weeks will lead to an intensive but informal way of talking to each other about all kinds of things.

I'd like the Associate Artists to be people who are finding ways to make art about the world around them that also ends up revealing who they are. I like lively, heartfelt and witty art that can also be cool and ironic. Doesn't necessarily have to be painting, but that's my favorite thing, partly because I think it's the hardest way to be fresh and original in the 21st century.

Application Requirements

I'd like applicants to send the following:

• Any kind of statement outlining how the applicants see their work and where they see it going via this residency.
• Images of finished work both past and present - I'd prefer digital images (jpegs) as these are more convenient and easier to see. (Please inclued digital images on a CD.)
• Images of preparatory work (i.e. drawings, source material, anything that's a starting point for the work).
• Close-ups of details, as it is often hard to see what's really going on in a painting, or other artwork from an image of the whole thing.
• A resume, and brief biography