Michael Stevenson

SOLD

2005
oil on canvas, six panels
208.5 x 180.5cm
signed, dated and inscribed with title on reverse

Payne held a solo exhibition, entitled Sacred Yin, at Michael Stevenson in September 2005. For this show she inscribed on a long wall of the gallery, in pale pink dripping paint, the words of Anaïs Nin: ‘And the day came when the risk (it took) to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.’ This tension between holding back and letting go, restraint and exploration, encapsulates her concerns as an artist.

The Sacred Yin paintings follow on from Payne’s ‘Post-Tokyo’ phase, in which she found inspiration from a trip to Japan in search of sakura, the cherry blossom, as well as the art of kinbaku, or erotic rope bondage. In the recent works the ropes are cast off and flowers are morphed into patterns reminiscent of mandalas, embodying a sense of spiritual equanimity. In the kaleidoscopic six-panel paintings, forming a hexagon, sacred geometry emerges with the balancing of feminine (inverted) and masculine triangular forms integral to the structure. The mirroring technique creates suggestive forms in which flowers evoke fleshy orifices and limbs entwine to suggest petals and vines. The paintings combine seductive beauty with an intimate knowledge of the trauma that precedes new life.

As Payne wrote in the Sacred Yin catalogue, she combines imagery painted with photographic precision together with the abstract language of washes and drips:

This demands focus and discipline, and it is within these strict confines that I find the time and space to meditate. I love painting and the act of painting calms me, it lowers my heartbeat and slows my breathing. It takes time for my paintings to grow, sometimes months, each one demanding devotion and attention until its completion.

We are One is the sixth and final work in her series of hexagonal canvases.