Laura and Rachel Lancaster

Laura Lancaster’s work centres around the figure, often abstracting its presence, which is intensified by the manipulation of paint, creating ambiguous and surreal imagery. The inspiration for Laura Lancaster's paintings, drawings and installations is found photographs, cine films and slides of strangers. Lancaster's process-orientated practice forms an ongoing dialogue between the languages of painting and photography, focusing on the manipulation of the tension between the visceral qualities of the paint and the image it depicts.

Rachel Lancaster uses painting as a means to slow down the act of looking, focusing the gaze on often overlooked scenes. She depicts detailed fragments of imagery disconnected from greater narratives, rendering these fragments both descriptive and abstract, suspenseful, and open-ended; within this, her strategic use of ambiguity creates resonant pauses, allowing emotional undercurrents to come forth and find resolve. She reveals the uncanny beauty and quiet spectacle that lies beyond the action.

Presented in the Northumbria University Gallery, Level 3.