Campfire No.1 2019

Zoe Hawk made ‘Campfire No.1’ with oil on canvas. The painting has been carefully built up in layers, the gestures are restrained but deliberate. The artist’s hand has paused and hovered, returning again and again to the surface. Look how the girl’s pink dress glows in the firelight. I like the painting’s palette—the cool tones of the girl’s skin and the night sky play off the warmth of the fire. The girl's seriousness is broken by the charming, old-fashioned costume. What’s she signalling with those flags? What’s the message? It feels like she’s acting something out, and that we’ve only arrived part way through the performance. There’s an interesting mix of naivety and careful planning in the painting. Hawk’s use of colour and form creates a strangely unsettling mood. It is a world of make-believe and imagination, but there’s something at stake. Artists, through the process of painting, can show us new ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling.