Carey Mortimer
Waiting for Neptune II - punic wax and egg tempera on canvas - 42 x 42cm
Two Bowls - distemper on panel - 29 x 29cm
Moldavian Jug - distemper on panel - 29 x 29cm
Charred II - egg tempera on gessoed cloth - 42 x 42cm
Elicriso - fresco mounted on alveolam panel - 54 x 56cm
The Temptation of Saint Anthony - egg tempera - 52 x 56cm
Numen - punic wax on canvas - 90 x 90cm
The Gift - botanical inks on gessoed cloth - 57 x 71cm
Charred III - egg tempera on gessoed cloth - 72 x 96cm
Water II - palladium leaf, bole on g/panel - 30 x 27cm
St Anthony Tempted by a Heap of Gold (a copy) - egg tempera on gessoed panel - 45 x 45cm
Precious Cargo II - mixed media on fresco - 40 x 40cm
The Mercy of Metamorphosis II - buon fresco - 52 x 56cm
Summer Past - botanical ink, egg tempera on g/p - 48cm x 42cm
Principessa - egg tempera on gessoed cloth - 93 x 68cm
Fire Followers I - egg tempera, bole, gold leaf on g/c - 45 x 25cm
‘..things unknown but longed for still…' - egg tempera, silver leaf on Debola slate - 61 x 36cm
L'Orto - egg tempera on gessoed canvas - 39 x 30cm
Discovering fresco set Carey Mortimer on her path as an artist. After graduating from City and Guilds of London Art School in 1986, she studied under Italian restorer Leonetto Tintori, who introduced her to the medium of the ancients and encouraged her to unravel it.
Lime, sand, pigment, yolk . . . how to make new the alchemies of the past? Carey likes to unzip the science: fresco is painting turned to stone, egg tempera is hardening strings of protein, gold is stable and stays gold forever. First know the rules to break them. And if nature is already divine, why compete? Freed from its ordinary context, a gathered leaf / mermaid’s purse / bowl or feather can take on a different function altogether: ‘A painting is only a rearrangement of matter into another form.’ The artist as chemist of the imagination. The studio as crucible, microscope, chantry.
Past and present speak in their own ways. Alert to the languages of both, Carey blends age-old techniques and her own contemporary sensibility to create surprising visual poems. Her paintings acknowledge the difficult noise of our time, but by reminding us to see beauty they offer a healing perspective, and in doing so help restore balance.
A Dundee University MPhil, Carey has been exhibiting with the Thackeray Gallery since 1994. Her work can be found in many public, private and corporate collections worldwide, including Aviva Headquarters, London; Farleigh Hungerford Castle; Firmdale Hotels, London; and Jones Day, London and New York.
Maria de Jong.