Jane Dinmore plays with vibrant colours and shapes to create animated landscapes and obscure narratives full of energy, momentum, concealment and possibility. This collection of paintings and drawings on paper have been formed by layering buoyant form with spontaneous gestures and definite marks. In order to create witty compositions, the works use cartoon language, favouring the absurd.
Can silliness be a serious pursuit? This is just one of the questions posed by Dinmore’s art. The process of creating paintings and drawing is a joyous one and the results subvert the form. The titles of the work add yet another layer, intended when read to amuse the audience. The cubist poetry of Gertrude Stein has influenced the abstraction and simplicity of Dinmore’s portrayal of memory and observation. Her confident use of marks has developed into a distinct visual language that emulates a strong spirit.
Instantly recognisable is Dinmore’s distinct mix of the comic and abstract. Her inspiration comes from the interaction of colour, 20th century contemporary abstract sculpture, doodling, bioformic shapes, standing stones, and time as object. She takes motivation from nights out, showing off, prudery, misunderstandings, innuendo, especially mid-century abstract painting & illustrations. 1960’s and 1970’s illustration, poetry, natural forms, London night clubbing and music all infuse in her work which can never sensibly be articulated in words. She enjoys freedom to play, yet understand the serious, in order to avoid it.
Jane believes this avoidance is the key to camp sensibility. In Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay Notes on “Camp” Sontag cites, “Indeed the essence of camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration”. Through the beckoning hands, shoulders and multiple legs within Dinmore’s work, she hopes to convey a super subtle camp. The entanglements on view are never intended to be sexual, but about giving the viewer more to wonder and encourage intrigue.
Jane Dinmore studied Fine Art Painting at the Hertfordshire University, graduating in 1995. She continued her studies at Goldsmiths, London, graduating in 1999. Dinmore moved her London studio to the East Sussex coast in 2006.
