WHEN YOU PUT YOURSELF IN ONE PLACE FOR AN EXTENDED DURATION OF TIME YOU GET TO SEE MORE THAN BEFORE. THIS STILLNESS TO WATCH LIFE PASS COMES SO RARELY TODAY
Caught in the physical act of creating work outside, the process of painting a mural or canvas in situ for Lucy is a deeply rewarding act - When you’re painting, people stop to watch, they come to chat, offer you food and drink, invite you into their homes. This is so far removed from the usual studio day to day. The new perspectives and connections I’ve made, even when we don't speak the same language...the painting inevitably becomes an extension of this, solidifying those memories.
ARTMOSSPHERE OFFLINE
MOSCOW BIENNALE
SEPTEMBER 2018
Lucy was invited to exhibit at the Artmossphere Biennale (2018). With a sledge full of paint and canvas she searched the city for inspiration until someone furtively mentioned the National Losiny Ostrov Forest, said to be the third largest inner-city forest in the world.
I went to the forest to go ‘offline’, starting my paintings there to see where they could take me. To escape the city’s distractions and my usual reliance on Google maps to guide me through a new place. I remember a time before the internet, before mobiles. I’m stuck to this machine with its constant buzz of expectations, perhaps reaching a point of no return. But in that moment in the forest away from the shadow of the city, away from its gilded churches and the postcard scenes, we saw another side to Moscow and heard some truths from the people we met along the way.
Offline / Moscow (2018)
Film by Matthew Watkins capturing Lucy at work in and around Moscow.