Phoebe Unwin fluidly uses oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolours and graphite in her sensorial works, carefully selecting her materials to best reflect the mood or emotion of the chosen subject matter. Never working from direct observation or photography, Unwin is principally concerned with painting what “something feels like, rather than what it looks like”. Fragments of figuration allow audiences to almost exactly recognise the plant, décor, vehicle or textile Unwin had recreated from her imagination. The translucent painterly quality and the amorphous bleeding of blues, pinks and yellows generates a cloudy sensation that echoes processes of memory or recollection. This deployment of colour and observation of tone is reflective of the colour work of Mark Rothko, while Unwin’s aqueous brushstrokes bow their heads to the Post-Impressionists. When looking at the works of Unwin, the viewer is utterly transported to a particular sensation through her intimate impression and understanding of a specific time and place. The image itself may be unclear, but its emotion is sensuously translated. ...
