Amy Sillman: uncommon ground

Sillman refuses to be “one thing” in her work. Rather than settling into one space, she occupies multiple at a time, what I term as an “uncommon ground”. It is uncommon because it is unusual to find an artist so confident and able to straddle abstraction and figuration, to leap from subject to formal, from psychological and socio-political to comedy. [...] This thesis will evaluate the variation of her painting and how this impacts the reception and interpretation of her work. Sillman approaches painting with an attitude of freedom and confidence - she makes paintings directly from her interests. Consequently, the subject matter of her work can change drastically from painting to painting. I will analyse three paintings by Sillman in detail to consider how she maintains consistency of “style” in her work while tackling a variety of subjects and ideas.