Edward Povey

"Lipstick"  2011
This painting arose from a number of factors emerging in the art of Edward Povey. It clearly further explores gender, staging a painfully sensitive young man, dressed in a woman's frock and necklace, applying red lipstick. As Povey looks further afield around his new American studio, searching for models who suit his new subject matter, he rules out no source, and found this young man in a scene from a movie. As has happened before in Povey's art, the issue of "sight" has become central to the feel of his paintings, and to the intention that is projected by his figures. Once again, he feels the need to find ways of "removing sight" from his characters, in this case by darkening the eye sockets so that the subject peers from the shadows. He seeks a primeval and ceremonial atmosphere in his works, which he believes is deepened by the obscuring of the eyes, leaving the viewer deprived of a resolution in his relationship with the characters, and fated to endlessly circle in search of meaning, as it is in the ceremony of life.
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