Pam Hawkes

The Players II

Storytelling, myths and religious iconography show us the possibilities of change, alchemical transmutations from the mundane life we lead. Through traditional imagery, text materials and painting methodology my work invite a questioning of the ideal. Paintings that hint at the seduction of beauty, jewels and brocades cocoons then binds us into a misplaced serenity.

Pam Hawkes. 2012

Icon I

Intimate Domains

The Players I

Behind the Scene

Follow me

Still Here

Cocoon

Fading

Terra Incognita

Warrior I

Warrior II

Last Stand

At first glance the rich,dark colours and muted gleam of gold leaf are reminiscent of grand Rennaissance portraits, but a second look reveals a vulnerability in the sitterswhich is at odds with their formal pose. Pam Hawkes's mind is steeped in illuminated manuscrpts and religious iconography which transmits into striking images of today. She loves the idea of stillnes, so often personified by the Virgin in paintings of the Annunciation throughout the ages, but many of the women in her portraits betray agitation behind the apparent tranquility.

Mary Rose Beaumont. June 2010 

Labyrinth

Swept Away

Night Music

Unbound

Stories of  Desire IV

The Game

The Impossibilities of Falling

The sense of innocence

Tracing Mythologies III

Unfinished Story

Pam is particularly interested in the notion of the picture frame and how the frame can interact with the image and has become an integral part of the work….She constantly plays with ambiguity, text may or may not refer to the image,and the subjects themselves are fairly androgynous, opening up a whole range of sexual interpretation and mixed meaning. The sitters are stylised and although they may be family and friends, this is not portraiture as you and I know it.
They are knowingly idealised, in a way that plays with a notion that there is no ideal family unit. Indeed, like her characters within the frame we too are trapped within a world that is not exactly of our own choosing. They are bound in a realm of domesticity. The fabric and the folds, the wallpaper effect and the use of household implements such as cloth and sponges in technique, all point to an artist who is fully aware that the home is not necessarily where the heart is.

Benjamin Austin. 2007