Ina Pickard - Artist

Still Life

Recent concerns with still life and the figure show Pickard’s ongoing interest in the interaction between the human figure and the paraphernalia of life; Her paintings are about the world's oddments and their significance to us as people.
Humans depicted are deliberately ambiguous, representing all of us rather than specific individuals. The Still life also implies human presence. Someone has arranged the flowers, has eaten the fruit, has drunk or is drinking the wine. A sense of contemplation is intended here - as though we had entered into someone's story or thoughts which may have parallels with our own experiences. Some paintings are thus presented as an enigma and viewers are invited to supply their own interpretation of the scene.

For example, the painting "Two black cats" implies human presence through the arranged flowers and the half empty plate of fruit. In addition, the two cats have a home here. Their play gives activity to an otherwise still scene. The interlocking of the table's circle with their movement is intended to suggest the continuum of time. Here, the still life implies a state of flux redolent of human experience since interaction between all of us is ongoing, throughout life and thereafter.
Pickard has said that she hates talking about her work;

“Being a painter is a protracted exercise in masochism. It sucks you in. It’s hard work and there’s no retirement plan. But when the shapes and colours begin to emerge, it’s pure alchemy and you become greedy for more.
The frustration and failure is something you have to live with. I paint whatever I want – there’s so much visual stuff around and a lifetime of experiences that inspiration is never the problem – getting it to work how I want it to, is.
There’s always more behind my painting’s subject than seems at first glance – but I want the viewer to work that one out.
I hate talking about my work."