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Gail de Cordova: biography
Born: Mtarfa, Malta
Art Education: Exeter College of Art & Design (First Class Hons)
Gail de Cordova: statement about my work
When I paint these pictures I am aware of the materiality of them; the paint, the paper, colours, textures. They come intuitively and instinctively from within. A process of letting go and opening up.
Then come all the decisions about how to get the thing right. Many layers and many changes, much work over lengths of time. Sometimes a slow and gentle building of surfaces, patiently piecing fragments together, sometimes vehemently tearing away. They carry weight and light, surface texture and illusion, a reverence for the elements, the force and the form of nature, a world of contrasts and tensions; images of time and space.
What becomes evident later is that somehow contained within these pictures is the 'spirit' or 'essence' of a place or experience. The tissue paper in particular seems, by it's rich surface texture and movement contrasting with its diaphonous and ethereal effect, to contain elements of flesh and spirit.
"Gail de Cordova
works with paint and tissue. An Isabelle Allende of visual art, her images
invoke ghosts, nostalgia and mysticism together with the very real power
of the lands she has known, primarily Cornwall, Spain and France. Her
work spans time - from a child to an adult's remembrance. Caught, released
or transformed by memory, emotion, colour and form.
A language of her own that speaks to us."
Suzanne Jasileck, Suisho Gallery, 1999
‘It's no wonder Gail enjoys the Cambridgeshire skies - her mixed media works are filled with a sense of natural light and she is a master at capturing its moods and our experience of it. Her works begin as responses to places and memories, particularly the frothy blues of Cornwall where she grew up and the earthy reds of Spain where she has lived.
She slowly works up a painting through layers of plaster, acrylics and oil paint, sand, pastels and paper, so the works draw attention to their surface. But while tactile their depth compels you to take a prolonged gaze into their subject. Their compositions are suggestive of places and feelings without being definable. They often depict a scene at dawn or evening - times on the cusp of things, stepping out of the everyday and inviting meditation and calm. They are spiritual and joyful.’
Fiona Scoble – ‘Local Secrets’, Cambridge, July 2009
"Looking at Gail’s work and SEEING it is a most wonderful experience.; and seeing it CLEARLY is poetry, music and religion, all in one... Her work is alive. I am fortunate to possess two of Gail’s paintings: ‘After Nicholson’ (2001- mixed media on canvas) and ‘Summer Breeze’ (2005- mixed media on canvas). Both mean daily replenishment. Needless to say that I am an admirer of Gail’s work."
geertje anderson MA(RCA) BIDA