A Fleeting Feeling For Which There Are No Words
By Heather Jones
It is impossible to give a precise explanation of Norwegian artist Ingrid Toogood´s paintings. Any attempt to do so would be a disservice to the elusive nature of the work. Her practice historically emphasizes feeling over narrative transparency and clear metaphor, instead preferring to create a stage for more subtle human emotions. Never is that more true than in her most recent body of work. Titled Yesterday In My Pocket, this series consists of large-scale paintings and mirrored sculptural elements. Thoughtfully arranged in the space, the paintings work together to evoke a mysterious, contemplative mood.
Ingrid Toogood is well known for her ability to draw forth complex emotions in the viewer: playful joy, inquisitive curiosity, and loud ecstasy. Her artistic practice exists at the nexus of painting, sculpture, scenography, and performance, and always begins with a connection to the subconscious. Regardless of final format, her process invariably begins with small sketches and automatic drawing/painting/collaging that belie the exacting execution of the final artworks.
Her works often reference art history, historic interiors, and decorative painting, and include contemporary nods to historic motifs and trompe l’oeil techniques. Almost recognizable figures and patterns that come directly from the artist's hand combine with deftly painted shadows to create false layers and a disorienting sense of depth. However the goal of the work is not simply to trick us. The optical deceptions in Toogood´s paintings serve to decenter the viewer, and pull them inwards, encouraging deeper presence and observation.
In her newest body of work, Toogood´s trademark figure-ground distortion and historic motifs are still present, but the playfulness and day-glo color palettes are tellingly absent. In this respect, Yesterday In My Pocket is a marked departure in tone from her previous works. This series is pared back both in figuration and color palette, and invites the viewer to sink into a more pensive state of being. The series is anchored by two sculptural paintings, Open Window (Day) and Open Window (Night). Each work is composed of a painted canvas that suggests an abstract interior space, connected at a right angle to a mirrored cutout framework that calls to mind an ornate window frame or trellis. Placed together, these works serve as contextual brackets to the series, creating a container for personal reflection.
Nestled conceptually between these “open windows” are five paintings, serving as an abstract timeline of changing moods throughout the day. Unlike the joyful excess of previous works, these paintings are restrained. Blues, grays, and muted pastel washes predominate with few pops of vibrant color, and the forms have been greatly simplified. Toogood has only painted what is absolutely necessary, and this decision leaves the viewer more room for their own subconscious to connect with the imagery she presents. The depicted motifs share a downward momentum – falling leaves, dropping petals, wilting flowers – and the paintings each have their own kind of visual layering in which the content is simultaneously hidden and revealed. The works are also presented together with small mirrored elements that intentionally confuse the picture plane, destabilizing the viewing experience and encouraging closer inspection. Where is the surface, where is the depth? The mirrors not only reflect the paintings, they also reflect the viewer, enabling us to exist inside of the artwork.
Despite all of the above descriptions, I cannot tell you what these artworks are about exactly, or why the artist felt the need to paint them. Toogood herself states that in her work, she is trying to capture a fleeting feeling for which she has no words.” The paintings here attempt to express something preverbal, a feeling for which language is inadequate. We all know the feeling of looking out of a window at day's beginning and end, of sensing our shifting moods along with the changing light of an interior domestic space free, at least for a moment, from intellectual labeling and task management. These paintings are an invitation to the viewer to look inwards and revel in our own mystique and uncategorizable moods. Yesterday in My Pocket is a reverie of sorts, an invitation to dwell in that interiority and subtle existence for as long as possible.