Page 83 - Marlie Burton Roche : Landscape and Bread

MORNING ABLAZE,

WITH SOME SACRIFICE

in solidarity with the popular socio-political movement in El

My pursuits Salvador and my artworks have increasingly coalesced, merging
a very private career with what I call, “The nightmare of history in the making.” In the series I HAVE
HEARD THE RED HORSES, aspects of past horrors are still evidenced, but the past is evoked in

a juxtaposition that illuminates the present. The painting, Morning Ablaze, With Some Sacrifice is
from that series. This is not an art of exposure but of synthesis wherein wholeness is constructed out
of fragments and discord. The whole represents what I call the radical unconscious – a reconciling

of unity with diversity that reflects the contemporary need to create a conscience. The political
situation in El Salvador becomes a symbol of the current unconsummated moment, highlighting our
apprehension of reality but at the same time perhaps strengthening our sympathy for our fellow man.

But I do not set out to make ‘political art’. I do not begin a work with a preconceived idea or
preliminary sketch and then transpose that to canvas. The challenge for me is to stand in front of a

blank canvas, at times massive, and just start painting. This is the most exciting part of the process. In
that sense I guess my work is intuitive. Of course as soon as I begin putting paint on the canvas then
things start to be controlled as shapes and colours relate and change relative to one another. It is a slow

way of working, not only technically, using layers of glazes, but also because I often put work away for
a space of time and come back to it later. Most of the time I work on two or three paintings at a time so
they have a chance to mature or something during the process. When I paint, I rotate the canvas so for

a while there is no up and down orientation. In fact, sometimes, I do not decide which side is up until
the work is finished. And I almost never name a painting until it is done. When I am involved in the
making of a new piece of art I am never sure exactly where I am going with it but I always know when

I get there. Primarily I work in series, although frequently these overlap. Sometimes an individual
piece can stand on its own and sometimes things only make sense as part of a series.

Art is a form of universal communication, and while I do not think about this when I am making
art, it is something I am interested in theoretically. To me the spatial and temporal concepts used in
art express a codification of the reality in which we live and the cultural attitudes that are inherent

to that reality. Spatial codifications develop instinctively, usually unknown to the authors, and this
unconscious manifestation provides an acute insight into man’s attitude to his environment and fellow
human beings. Clarifying to myself what I am doing is particularly important to me because I work in

relative seculsion.

LANDSCAPE & BREAD MARLIE BURTON-ROCHE 79