LOOK – The Falling Dark 2007
Anwen Keeling’s world is a shadowy, elegant place. It’s a place alive with the haunting beauty of the sky after a flash of lightning; the emptiness between people when conversation clatters to the floor;
Like film stills from a Hitchcock thriller, Anwen’s latest exhibition, ‘The Falling Dark’, captures elegant visions of isolated women poised on the edge of something more. In ‘Suspense’ a blonde woman climbs a dark staircase, her face hidden by shadows, her body heavy with anticipation. In ‘Drifting’ a woman is suspended in the bath, lost in thought as the delicate afternoon light washes over her. Through chiaroscuro effects and photo-realistic interiors the paintings project a dark, dramatic narrative that’s at once deeply familiar but impossible to pin down. As Anwen describes, her work often focuses on that intensely personal moment when we finally recognise what’s going on. And as viewers, the voyeuristic appeal of intruding into someone’s inner-most thoughts makes ‘The Falling Dark’ truly gripping viewing.
By Jade Warne
