Melbourne-based artist Prudence Flint showcases women in everyday situations. There’s something very still about her paintings. A somber reflection on the under-whelming quality of everyday life. Flint admits that she imagines her female subjects are carried away in thought. “Facial expressions can really dominate a painting,” she told The Harvard Advocate. “I prefer a more ambiguous reading so the painting itself has room to become the expression.”
But the meaning of the paintings is open to interpretation. “I’m often not sure what it is I want the figure to be feeling,” says Flint. “I need to surrender and find it within the painting. We are used to seeing people depicted smiling or scowling in advertisements where ambiguity isn’t going to sell anything.”
Treating her art as a way of making peace with reality, Flint paints her women in sheer contrast to images splashed in fashion magazines. “Fashion magazines are meant to reflect our desire and imagination,” she says. “But it is a world that just feels so engendered to me now.”
Take a peek into her small, relatable worlds.
