The secret life of figurines

The Secret Life of Figurines comes to life in the oil paintings by Redfern & Blue Mountains artist Pleasance Ingle.

"At first, when I started to notice and muse about these porcelain figurines, what I saw was a rich kitsch of magnified feminine charm, trussed in corsets and crinolines, courted by visions of equally artificial male gallantry.

"It wasn’t until I started painting the images and rediscovering the lyrics of Leonard Cohen, that the figurines began to reveal another kind of drama, their distorted shadows, their knowing gazes, their other stories."

Pleasance Ingle has always been a painter, she says her mother delivered the inheritance in the womb, since she has been making art for as long as she remembers… and probably longer. She never had any doubt that she would spend her life making art, but the demands of life also led her into theatre, working with costumes, keeping actors clad for seasons of performance. Theatre fed into her painting, as have all her occupations.

Living in Greece, introduced her to a different aesthetic and the everyday ancient, beside the very simple ways of life. Latterly, as a teacher she admits that her students taught her as much as she showed them. Their originality and energy were lessons in themselves. Her own children taught her how complicated things could be, and how wonderful.

She uses photographic documentation as source material (and thanks to the gods for the smart phone) that becomes integrated into compositions, both real and imagined. There is a degree of realism in all the work, everything is recognisable. Mostly these are oils on canvas or linen and also frequently gouache on paper for its immediacy. With art (usually) being about our inner worlds, this is her way to process and engage with all sorts of existential questions and observations that could be allegories of the human condition.

She has a Bachelor of Art (Education) and has been exhibiting since the 80’s, has had 13 solo shows and been a finalist in numerous art prizes. Since moving to the Blue Mountains she has built a new studio from which to watch birds and listen to the trees while making new work.