Amanda Houchen’s paintings tap into a sense of otherness, as indicated by Michel Foucault’s heterotopia. She is keen to create spaces that can not easily be put into context. The settings she explores convey a sense of artifice and are often mysterious
claustrophobic spaces.
She explores that which is ethereal and exotic; masked, carnivalesque performers who carry a melancholic beauty amidst uncanny environments with wild plants and alluring forms. Through the use of vivid, illuminating colour, shape and pattern, she confronts the viewer with the ambiguous; creating a sense of tension by playing with surface, texture, light and dark. She is interested in exploring the possibilities and limitations of paint - how applying it in particular ways can create a sense of dislocation.
