Lisa O'Keefe - 'Swing High, Swing Low'

Wednesday 18 September  - Sunday 13 October 2019

The swing hung from a huge old gumtree at the edge of an embankment. The memory of it has always stayed with me. Swinging out on it was sheer delight and probably explains, in part, why these depictions of swings are mostly way above ground level.

Of interest is the fact that swings are not just the domain of childhood: adults also take delight in this sometimes precarious thrill - The Swing at the End of the World in Ecuador, the swing above the clouds, Huser Yaylasi, Turkey and, not forgetting, the use of swings in religious festivals going back to Ancient Greece and perhaps beyond.

The figure on a swing suited a linear tendency in my work and ties in with a current pre-occupation of mine - substance and the lack thereof, presence-absence. Are some of the figures in these pieces mere ghosts of themselves, do they have any reality?

And, as usual, colour plays an important role in the work.