Catriona Jeffries

In an era defined by industrialization, automation, and algorithmic processes, the question of how we perceive artistic expression takes on new significance. Elizabeth McIntosh’s latest body of work makes use of snaking linework and nested layers to offer a uniquely pared-down view of intentionality amidst industry.

Comprising nine large-scale yet remarkably economical paintings, these works appear to bear the unmistakable mark of the artist’s hand. Thickly defined lines and expansive swaths of monochromatic colour suggest a raw and spontaneous approach, yet this initial impression is transformed upon closer inspection. As one traces the animated marks, it becomes clear that the visible brushstrokes often run counter to the flow of the line, worming over and under one another, revealing how the linework is not the result of a massive writing tool nor the roving of an unguided brush. Rather, their intentionality began long before any paint marked the canvas.

Long and winding, the edges of each line are utterly crisp. Do they follow the path of a stencil, a cutting blade pirouetting with the energy of coiled contours? One can imagine the vector-smooth scrawls copied and pasted across compositions. Repetition, when executed by hand, demands painstaking effort, yet in the digital realm, it’s as intuitive and expressive as a musical phrase played through keyboard shortcuts. On this note, we are made to reconsider the aesthetics of expression in correspondence with shifting modes of production—here, the painted gesture retains the age-old texture of animal bristles, and yet its flow is indebted to the preset brush of a tablet stylus. The colours, though retaining digital connotations, possess a depth and clarity far surpassing what screens can reproduce. The chromakey blue transcends the brightest RGB diode, while the monochromatic backgrounds are not merely matte; they are wholly absorptive, maintaining their vibrancy from every angle.

As the perfectly circular mark weaves, writhes, and rebounds across the equally perfect flat expanses of ground, McIntosh’s paintings evince both a dependence on, and a creative departure from, the technical abilities of our time. In this way, the resemblance to knotted power cords or digital icons is not accidental. These abstract tangles intertwine various techniques and approaches, indexing disparate processes in a productive network. The artist’s hand, like the human body itself, is inseparable from the intricate web of specialized labour that defines contemporary life—only the artist draws lines between nodes that might not otherwise directly connect. Rather than undermining artistic expression with machinic certitude, McIntosh’s hybridized techniques open up new realms for intuitive experimentation, and new vantages from which to observe the collective unconscious. Art’s challenge has never been solely about self-expression or rebellious divergence from the high-level productive practices that underpin our economy. It has been, and remains, an effort to relate the simultaneous realities of individual agency and profoundly determined interconnectedness: real relationships.

Documentation by Rachel Topham Photography.