Campylotes desgonsini Moth Mask, 2007, oil pastel, 112x 76 cm
Photograph by Viki Petherbridge
Issue 10 of the journal etchings, titled the feminine, features an article on my work by Inga Walton, by far the most extensive that has been written to date.
Inga has written about my work twice before, in 2004 (1) and 2009 (2). She is a superb writer, who is not only remarkably conversant with and genuinely enthusiastic about the work, but also ‘gets’ it, which is enormously gratifying for any artist. She worked particularly long and hard on this piece, unearthing some entirely new ground along the way.
On this occasion, I had some small involvement in the process, in that Inga sent me a list of thought-provoking questions, many of which I’ve ever been asked before. For the most part, it’s a relatively straightforward matter for artists to discuss the basis of our ideas and influences. But at times, even to us, it feels as if some ideas are simply plucked from the air, and this can be far more difficult to articulate. Her questions sometimes required some serious delving on my part, uncovering personal memories that I’d never fully thought about in connection with my work. I learned that some of its sources go back much further than I’d realized - in fact I hadn’t even recognized them as such.
An excerpt from Inga Walton’s behind beauty’s masks: works by Deborah Klein can be read HERE.
Etchings is published by Ilura Press. Issue 10 will be launched on April 19 at Readings Bookshop, 112 Acland Street, St Kilda from 6.30-8.30 pm. Full details are posted on the Ilura Press Website.
(1) Feminine Mystique by Inga Walton, Independent Arts Review, Issue 20, December 2004 - January 2005, Summer Edition
(2) Inga Walton’s article The Elusive Feminine: Works by Deborah Klein (eyeline contemporary visual arts, number 67, 2009) is reproduced on the Articles and Reviews page of my website. To read it in pdf format, click HERE.
