It is almost as if we can feel Daisy’s heartbeat pulsing through the cotton threads. Each technical movement widens the hypothetical fissure within Daisy’s mind, spilling the vulnerable contents out for others to see, and encouraging them to open up in the same ways.
office dove into this intimate experience with Daisy, below.
There are many different things that audiences can take from your paintings through their own interpretations. Do you usually have an idea of what a piece will look like in your head by envisioning it beforehand or do they come to be in a completely abstract way?
I think, in the beginning, I mostly have a sense of what colors I'm going to use. So it starts with colors or a feeling or an emotion. Sometimes in my head it's one thing, and then when I make it, it ends up as another thing — which is even better for me. Because then I can be surprised as well. I have a 'go-to' mark, so often it starts off with that or with making the canvas dirty and then responding to those marks. All of the marks I use are very emotional. So those are the starting points and then I just let it go where it needs to go, basically.
There's definitely this sense of serendipity that you can feel just by looking at the work. The exhibition is called The Warm Glow, which I think is very fitting because many of the pieces bring out emotions in audiences that maybe you didn't even know were possible. What makes you feel warm?
It started off as this womb-like gesture, you know? Like the warmth of a womb and how that leads to being nurtured and feeling safe. My cats make me feel warm. They're the most nurturing thing to me, but a safe home is definitely my goal in life. The paintings — they come from quite a dark place. But actually, there's a lot of hope and light in them and that's this thread of warmth that I want to radiate when you see them all together. So it's good to take them out of the context of the anxiety of my studio and actually see that there are elements of hope and lightness in there.
Definitely. I think that element of hope comes from the idea that when you're looking at the pieces, it feels that they were created by someone working through emotions, through this artistic process. So, this is your first solo exhibition in New York. What did you feel when you learned that you would get to showcase for the first time in a new city?
It's definitely a dream come true for me. And especially to have it in the Bowery, which is an area of New York I'm really fascinated by and obsessed with, because of Basquiat having a studio there and the whole art scene there. It has that grunge element that suits me and my work well. Being able to have my work in that context — my mind is blown. 12-year-old me wouldn't believe it.