Rebecca Partridge

From visiting the FIGURING LIGH Exhibition at the Djanogly Gallery I picked Rebecca Partridge as my favourite artist from the artists there.



Evolver oil on canvas is very clever because if you look carefully at the shapes, it looks like they are all exploding out from the centre. The colours for the blocks towards the centre of the painting are much bolder and more intense with bright a mixture of bright greens, reds, yellows, blues and pretty much any other colour you can think of. As the pattern moves outwards the colours fade and get paler. This can be viewed as the explosion that was in the centre of the painting is dying out as it reaches the edges of the canvas.

What I like most about this painting is that when two colours overlap, they are mixed together to create another, for example, when a blue block is overlapped with a yellow black the space in-between is green. The colours stand out so well because the back ground is white, if the background was, for instance, purple, the colours would not stand out as much.



The Dazzling Darkness oil on canvas, also by Rebecca Partridge, does the exact same thing although it’s in the opposite direction, so the squares are going into the centre and getting lighter in colour like their being sucked into a vacuum. I think these colours stand out so well because the background is black.

Design Methodology

Why is it that we want our belongings to do more for us than to function well?
In today’s society it’s not about what the piece of equipment does, it’s how it looks more than anything I think. This is very true with me; I’d rather have something that's a bit more expensive which does the same as another piece of equipment that isn’t as attractive. This happens with a lot of people, and don’t think you’re a snob if this is you. It’s natural to want nice things.
My view is that we want nice things because we want them to look better than everyone else’s. For example, say I bought a mobile phone. Now, this mobile phone does everything that normal mobile phone would... but it looks really cool – its black shiny and everything. But it’s a tad more expensive. I’d go for that one, where as my friend who may not be able to afford the posh one would go for another.
People buy expensive things because they secretly want people to see them and comment.
The example I’m using is my laptop, because it’s all shiny and new. I’ll be honest and say I bought it because it looked pretty. I went to PC World with £700 to spend on a laptop but saw this one that was way over my price range and had to have it. It did the same things as the others, maybe a little bit better, but it looked so much more aesthetically pleasing than the others.
Why are we willing, as soon as we can afford it, to pay extra for things with appealing forms?
This could be because of many things. Mostly I think it’s because people want to be better than their friends and by having the ‘best’ gadgets, they think they can become popular with other people if it’s only for a short while.
Peer pressure could account for some people spending more money on better looking items, e.g. a boy or girl might buy something because all their friends have it and they want to fit in.
Some people just like to have the best things that money can afford, and that means paying extra for objects as soon as they can afford too.
I think though, if everyone had a choice, that they would go for the more expensive object of the same grade than the cheaper one that doesn’t look as nice. I know I would... wouldn’t you?