Otomys is delighted to announce representation of Cam Summers. We sat down with Cam to get to know one another!
Otomys: Can you take us inside the inner workings of this collection?
Cam Summers: My work is embedded in the physical; figures find themselves amongst home, landscape and language. Tense and expressive, pensive and surrendered, these characters reflect a response.
The works explore the intersection of experience, environment and belief. Concepts which demand time, and an emotional capacity to encourage and receive ideas. In my practice, I prioritise ‘participating in the research’ and this exposure acts as a conduit for understanding, subsequently influencing the paintings and drawings.
These works foster the development of this understanding, as introspection is represented in solitary figures folding and furling upon themselves and their environment. Sensitivity and passion command emotional moments, where the humane is held, raised, and romanticised in states of self. Tenderness is a space audiences are invited into.
Otomys: You have shared with us that you sketch and write daily. Your collection of notebooks is fascinating. How do these pencil drawings and notes inform your practice?
Cam Summers: The journals are the beginning of my creative practice, where expression is liberated without expectation. Ideas are recorded, developed and manifested into paintings of ‘thought’. These ‘thoughts’ then provide an intention for my physical practice of painting and drawing. I’m able to approach a surface with a formed feeling of these ‘thoughts’, and a surrender to intuition. Throughout the process, and typically upon completion, I return to these writings as a way of anchoring the subject and my intentions.
Otomys: Emotion and critical thinking sit closely together in your practice. Do you find one tends to lead or do they unfold together while you work?
Cam Summers: I think emotion leads. As said previously, ‘participating in the research’ of an idea, experience or environment is what stimulates my practice. Following this participation, I tend to sit with my response, ruminate on its feeling and contextualise it within my understanding. I suppose that is where the writing takes a more intentional approach to an idea following this exposure.
Whilst the emotional expression continues throughout the act of painting, the practical aspects are introduced by way of form, composition and execution. This dialogue between emotion and application continues, creating a conversation between myself and the work.
Otomys: You mention this idea of ‘sifting through layers of limbs’. Can you tell us what that means for you?
Cam Summers: It is essentially a phrase for utilising the human figure as a form of experiential study. We all perceive and respond in different ways, and the application of line work and mark making will typically result in a chaos. The decisions I make throughout this period are what directs the final painting. This is a continuation of the conversation between art and artist.
Otomys: Moving between oils and charcoal how do you work with these materials, and does each carry a different emotional resonance for you?
Cam Summers: I think the charcoal and its ability to be easily removed whilst retaining a visual history is most closely related to writing in terms of material application. The charcoal creates this story, selectively erased or retained depending on its relevance to the direction of the work. Comparatively, I can return to specific writings, and completely forget others.
I will always try to hold some of this raw line work in the final painting as a way to express its foundations. If a work ‘feels’ finished with just drawn elements, I will trust that. Equally, oil paint and other mediums are applied to give the work a body, and continue its emotive presence. I feel an anfractuous yet constant movement between painting and drawing in my work, where one is always relying on the other.
Cam Summers' latest work is on show at Otomys between 10am-5pm Tuesday to Friday, or by appointment on Saturdays and Mondays.
