Zoe Spowage exhibition 'Pet' at Persistence Works

Incredible exhibition of paintings on new motherhood and fantastic blurb by the artist:

“From the start I was using 'Pet' as the title for this body of work: 'Pet' as in a creature you pour your love into; 'Pet' as in the affectionate/patronising touch of an authority (figure?); 'Pet' peeve/theory/name as in 'held dear'. There was something darkly comic about how lightweight the word Pet is in contrast to the seriousness of having a child.

I was considering who my new self would be - postnatally. The female characters in the paintings are all personifications of my musings or anxieties relating to this metamorphosis. Featured, too, is the unruly family pet, the pushed-out dog, displaced by the new child. And a toyed-with frog representing the cruelty and innocence of small children - a duality that no animal could ever understand, or forgive.

Aesthetically, this work is economic in terms of colour, drawing, and surface. It is elegant and filled with open space. Many of these elements feel at odds with my new existence as a mother - which feels chaotic and punk. Babies scoff at elegance.”