Q&A – Marisa Purcell

Sydney artist Marisa Purcell might work a traditional nine-to-five day, but her paintings are anything but conventional. Her layered works change with light and perspective, playing on the viewers’ senses. She sees her layered and multi-hued works as containers of time.

TLP Describe your art practice and how it has evolved.

MP My work has changed quite dramatically over the years, but the approach has always stayed the same. I rarely have a fixed idea in mind before I start a painting. When I am faced with a blank canvas, I just start working. It’s like an improvisation. One layer dictates the next, and the painting evolves like a call-and-response sequence.

“Painting is traditionally seen as a static form, but I like to think of my work as containers of time.”

TLP What comes first in your work – the form and material or the feeling you want the work to generate in the viewer?

MP Materiality is one of the most important things in my work. The linen I work on has to be just right. The weave, the surface, the primer all have to be conducive to soaking up the paint in just the right way. Once I have faith that it’s right, I feel free to play on it without limitations. Sometimes the paintings are really slight – barely there – and look like they have just appeared. Other times they are heavily layered and come across with more intensity.

TLP Could you reveal some of the inspirations behind your work?

MP The way light falls and the manner in which it changes the colour of things. I love how light is never fixed. It moves through time and the seasons, and this ephemeral nature is why I don’t think I’ll ever tire of exploring it in my work. I like to play around with how transparent colours behave under varying lighting conditions. The same painting can look vastly different in the morning, compared to the afternoon, or from different viewing angles. In this way, a painting can present many personalities when you live with it over time. Painting is traditionally seen as a static form, but I like to think of my work as containers of time.

TLP Describe your creative process. Where do you seek inspiration and how do you begin?

MP Getting out of town to work in nature for a few weeks is something I really value. Artist residencies have been invaluable for me – they allow me to immerse myself in what I want to be doing without the distractions of daily life. I find if I take these breaks regularly, they set me up for the next body of work. The deeper questioning occurs at these times and then, back in the studio, I tend to scale up the ideas and see how they play out on a larger scale. It never turns out the way I imagine, but that’s part of the process. The fact that I can’t predict a painting is part of the excitement.

TLP What does a typical workday look like for you?

MP I go to the studio every weekday, usually during office hours. I may have people drop by who want to look at or commission a work, but usually I’m just painting. I work on quite a few paintings simultaneously – while I’m waiting for a layer to dry, I move to the next work. It takes quite a bit of time for me to know the next move, so it’s important that I have several going at once because some paintings get ignored for weeks at a time until I know what to do with them.

“Artist residencies have been invaluable for me – they allow me to immerse myself in what I want to be doing without the distractions of daily life.”

TLP Is there an artist whose work you admire or who has inspired you?

MP The way James Turrell works with light has always been intriguing to me. I try to imagine my paintings as Light Rooms where the viewer gets immersed in a colour and feels the intensity of its effect. My work usually gets compared to Rothko, and of course he has been pivotal in the way I see painting. Because I work with fields of colour, and respond to colour as pure emotion, my work can’t not be seen as part of Rothko’s lineage.

TLP Tell us about Artfare Posters and why you started it? How do you choose artists for it?

MP I came up with the idea to make posters out of artists’ work during Covid. I saw so many of my friends sitting on this incredible back catalogue. I saw a great opportunity to breathe some new life into some incredible images made by talented artists. When I was a kid, I had posters all over my wall from the great artists, not that I knew who they were then. And then when I travelled, I went on a pilgrimage to seek out the originals of those works. Our posters celebrate contemporary Australian art and 80 per cent of the profits go back to the artists. In this way, Artfare Posters aims to provide another means of income support.

“Because I work with fields of colour, and respond to colour as pure emotion, my work can’t not be seen as part of Rothko’s lineage.”

TLP What are you working on now?

MP In the studio, I am currently experimenting and making lots of mistakes in preparation for my show at Hugo Michell Gallery in Adelaide mid-year. I usually spend a few months in this phase before embarking on the actual paintings for the show. I have to play so I can discover what the show will be.

“I am currently experimenting and making lots of mistakes in preparation for my show at Hugo Michell Gallery in Adelaide mid-year.”