Shapeshifter

Acrylic paint on plywood

74cm x 21cm x 8cm

‘I love how the painting takes recognisable tropes and patterns from modernist art history and plays with them, pushing them into a new territory- the work is visually impactful, repaying repeated viewing.’

George Vasey

‘To have been selected by George Vasey for the New Light judge’s award has given me a wonderful boost of encouragement and confidence in the artworks I make. Thank you to all the New Light team for their hard work in putting together a wonderful exhibition. The £500 bursary will go directly to supporting my art practice, enabling me to purchase materials to make bigger and more ambitious work.’

Sarah Louise Hawkins

Sarah Louise Hawkins creates art pieces that exist in the realm between painting and sculpture. She is interested in exploring how a painting can be read as an object and sculptural works can take on painterly concerns.

Her work predominantly consists of shaped wooden canvases and constructed architectural and geometric forms, which are primarily wall-based. Through the use of colour, shape, and pattern, she investigates spatial and optical perception. Her compositions are based on systems found in grid patterns, geometric shapes, repeated lines, and colour combinations.

Hawkins’ artwork manipulates solid shapes within space, creating a sense of depth and flatness simultaneously. The patterns on the surface of her pieces create an optical experience, playing with the viewer’s perception and generating changing compositions within their line of sight.