Cecilia Sebastian De Erice Hunerberg
Cecilia’s dynamic approach to painting is impulsed by Abstract Expressionists such as Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko. She draws her attention to the act of painting, leaving in secondary place the represented motif. She allows herself to explore the medium and procedures of painting in a very pure way, by working in an intuitive manner.
The book On Not Knowing: How Artists Think, by Elizabeth Fisher, played a significant role in the development of her ideas, as Cecilia, in her work, formulates strategies of not knowing, that play a key role in her decision-making process: she chooses to follow her intuition, instead of the rationale, often embracing chance, privileging sense over intellect. This thought process allows her to create paint in a carefree manner that reflects in her paintings. John Hoyland has also influenced her way of working, as he works in an intuitive manner, making him respond to what is already in the canvas. In addition, as Krebber stated that there is little space for innovation in painting; Cecilia understands that the representation of external ideas or issues is not fundamental in a painting, therefore what she does, and is also associated with Michael Krebber’s artwork, is essentially painting about painting,
She intends to create tension within the canvas by using opposing marks and colours that act and react against elements of the canvas, often using organic materials to add relief to the canvas, making the paintings tactile. Her harmonious colour palette is often interrupted by splashes of complementary vibrant colour, creating the tension mentioned before. She wants the viewer to experience the paintings as painted colours interacting and playing with each other on a flat field. The viewers can almost instantly distinguish her paintings from others, as the white lines that appear in most of her work has become a signature mark for her. “The heart of my work is to avoid representation, so that only the paint, colours and brush marks speak in a way that words cannot”.
