Natasha Henderson's Artist Statement:

Painting is a method of recognizing and representing history and time. As a process, painting simultaneously is steeped in history yet refers to the creation of history. Painting is older than recorded civilization, continuing through time and different civilisations with pertinence and importance, despite recent claims that it is a “dead” medium. I am devoted to painting and all its potentials.

My current work is situated within a contemporary context, yet alludes to historical methods of painting. I work with ideas about storytelling, perspective, landscape, and symbolism. I create evocative work that speaks about things that could only be said in paint. In doing this, I am thinking about language.

Painting is a visual language. Like spoken, read, and written languages, there are many painting dialects. The same word, image, or brushstroke has a multitude of meanings dependent upon context, inflection, and proximity to others. The relations between these “nouns” in my painting help to form “verbs”: in between the lines are actions and different implications. Of course, “adjectives” come into play… especially when the “nouns” are affecting one another! The way in which a passage is painted is important to what is gleaned from the whole work.

My approach is to use painting as a narrative tool. It is storytelling that brings in a contemporary audience, inviting them to fashion their own story out of what appears on the canvas. Outside of my intent, and the viewer’s response, the paint tells a story too. Within the underpainting are drips, brushstrokes and seemingly purposeless, random marks that help to form the final picture. The paint itself creates both intent and content.