Fiona Rae - Untitled (Emergency Room)

Untitled (Emergency Room) - 1996

Tate Collection - London - UK

Born in Hong Kong in 1963, Fiona Rae, emerged as an abstract painter in the late 80's after she graduated from Goldsmiths Colledge, London, in 1987. She came to prominence in the seminal 1988 warehouse exhibition Freeze - curated by fellow "Young British Artist" Damien Hirst. In 1991 she was nominated for the UK's Turner Prize for her contribution in extending the range of subject matter explored in abstract painting. In "Untitled (Emergency Room)", vivid and colorful geometric shapes contrast with a mishmash of black and white brushstrokes. The ambiguity of the work challenges our expectations of paintings and symbols and there is no doubt that the struggle to interpret the piece is part of the artistic experience. The enigmatic approach of Rae's abstract work has caused much debate in the art world. Even when describing her own work, the artist has said: 

"My paintings of the early nineties looked like a fight to the death between the different kinds of things on the canvas."

However, it is the justaposition between random shapes, vibrant colors, splattered paint, and even images borrowed from other artworks that make Rae's work so exciting. There is a deliberate lack of absolute meaning to her pieces so each viewer will interpret the same image in a different way. Whatever one feels about the absence of narrative meaning in art, there can be no argument about the dynamism of Rae's work - a powerful energy shines through and she continues to demonstrate that there is a place for the abstract in our conformist world.

Source: Wikipedia, Jamie Middleton, net