LOCKDOWN JOURNAL 2.3: Paul Digby #2
So Paul, the last time we met was a rather soggy December morning just before Christmas. Between lockdown’s you had managed to put together an exhibition of work by Garry Barker, Howard Eaglestone, Jonathon Hooper, Alison McIntyre, Liz Stirling, Adam Stone and yourself.
The exhibition entitled ‘The Imagined City’ served as a reminder of the outside world during a time in which many people had been sequestered away in their homes unable to access the outside world. The first thing that I notice about not just this work, but other recent works as well that you have been posting on social media, and that is the presence of people. Not just individual characters either but large groups. Does this mark a particular change in outlook at the moment?
My work has always been about the figure, even when I didn't portray a figure in my work there was a presence via the urban landscape. As an art student in 1994 I created a large metal box on top of a set of steps with the title reflection of me (it was my size) and this was the first time I conceptually considered presence and absence of the figure and the space around the figure, and this has kept with me ever since.
Lo-res image taken from a slide
I think of my work existing between the literal and abstract and this is because of the blur between whats real and whats not real or the illusion. This is partly to do with still having an interest in colour, shape and form as well as contrast and narrative; classic art tools.