Sally Bailey’s PhD research aims to  define and locate a ‘space of exchange’ within the painting process and articulate the ways in which this phenomenon plays a pivotal role in the often-backgrounded transformation of both process and painter. I present a re-imagining of the concepts of liminality and alchemy in relation to the painting process, as underpinned by the interfaces existing and emerging between painting/painter/Painting (as process/subject/object). Through experimentation, intervention, collaboration, and performative iterations these concepts are shaped into a matrix that can operate as a form of meaning-making in the enactment and encounter of painting. 

Full abstract:

Locating a Space of Exchange: re-imagining the liminal in contemporary painting practice.

The title of this thesis is borrowed from Prendeville’s critique of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical writings regarding the interplay between painting and perception. My aim is to define and locate a Space of Exchange within the painting process and consider how this phenomenon plays a pivotal role in the transformation of both process and painter.

This thesis critically examines the practice of contemporary painting through a re-imagining of the concepts of liminality and alchemy in relation to process, considering the interfaces existing and emerging between painting/painter/Painting (as process/subject/object). Through experimentation, intervention, collaboration, and performative iterations these concepts are shaped into a matrix that operates as a form of meaning-making in the enactment and encounter of painting.

The concept of liminality has been readily absorbed into numerous discourses across the arts – but notably, and most importantly, not in relation to the process of painting. How can the painter exploit the potentiality of this transformative space to develop experimental practice and push forward current thinking? Can the liminal be reframed as a conceptual space exiting between painter and painting, process, and outcome? By considering what painting is/isn’t/could be, I investigate how painting can remain relevant in tomorrows changed world.

The concepts of Presencing (Heidegger) and Becoming (Deleuze) are further developed and shaped to articulate the invisible pathways through the painting process that lead painter and painting to a point of being, a metaphysical plane where painting becomes.

A new lexicon of hybrid terms is developed, necessary to reflect the continuing evolution of painting and painter; it contributes to an expanded painterly language with which to better understand the relational integrity between practice, materiality, process, and outcome. New ways to consider painting are put forward, positioning the liminal as a conceptual lens with which to examine the essences and forces within that compel the painter to paint. This thesis also considers how the structured paradigm and language of alchemy might be appropriated to further articulate the transubstantive happenings occurring within the painting process.

I offer the blueprint of a Liminal Methodology—sitting between and beyond existing methodologies— that is interdisciplinary, transitional, transformative, and porous. This methodology can better navigate the ‘between’ spaces of research, the slippery areas that are difficult to grasp, and realise the vast potentials that reside there.