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FEMME FATALE Series

About this series

This series of drawings (together with the Fabrications series of paintings) initially developed from a response to books and films that utilise fabric, or apparel, as a key motif within the storyline. Apparel has been a device in folk tales and fiction down the centuries - characters use clothes to conceal, or create, alternative identities.

There is a parallel with fabric and threads in the construction of stories themselves - plots are unravelled, lines of enquiry are followed to solve mysteries, the word 'clue' derives from 'clew' meaning a ball of twine or thread...people fabricate stories, hide behind veils of lies, they spin tales. A story is a yarn.

Black netting and lace exposes flesh.  It is sheer and fine and, like a spider's web, belies its structure and strength. The fabric utilises flamboyant decorous forms that mimic nature - artificial devices to visually seduce and attract the 'prey'.

There is a similarity with tattoos used as a sexual lure. The drawings focus on close-ups, or details, of decorous and luxurious fabric at an uncomfortable proximity...the idea that the closer you look at something that is alluring the more it seems to convey the opposite.

Related Information

See also FABRICATIONS series and FILM FORENSIC series which relate to these works.

All drawings in this series are in the collection of The Arch Hotel, London