“I want the audience to be constantly changing position, taking on different archetypes of the viewer, playing around with the possibility of a gendered gaze.”
—Caroline Walker
An early work by the artist, Caroline Walker’s Untitled explores the themes of voyeurism, femininity and domesticity which have defined her career to date. Walker invites the viewer into an intimate scene enlivened with loose brushstrokes which suspends a fleeting moment in time. Patterned white tendrils fade across the canvas like a shutting curtain as if we have stumbled accidentally across the figure, whilst the defiant red of her underwear is echoed by a burst of scarlet to the left of the painting. Rich with a curious and implicit narrative that recalls a film still, Walker plays with the psychology of the gaze and its inherent power. Although the viewer embodies the role of an intruder, the sitter does not meet our gaze; she remains concealed, empowered and compellingly mysterious. Created in the interim between her studies at Glasgow Art School and the Royal Academy, Walker’s impressionistic use of colour, form and intriguingly provocative subject immortalises the energy of the young artist.
