“The paintings are created for entertainment and enjoyment, as theatre also entertains, that we might recognise something of ourselves in the moment we are required to take centre stage.” (1)

In Centre Stage, Elizabeth Rees has once more made the character the main point of focus, both visually and metaphorically. Re-visiting themes she first explored in the early 1990s, Rees looks at the dichotomy of our public and private worlds, and the masks we assume for each of them.

With strong visual references to commedia dell'arte, each actor Rees paints is shaped by the costume he or she is wearing. Her use of strong line, rich colours and exaggerated forms reinforces the idea that the costume moulds the character rather than the other way round. The eye is immediately drawn to the jewel-like tones and patterned exuberance of the costumes but looking past this, the shadowed eyes and blurred features of Rees’ characters suggest depths hidden beneath their theatrical trappings. They are simultaneously on display and hidden from view.

Camouflage sees the player enveloped in his coat and framed by curtains; it becomes tricky to see where the chequered costume ends and the draperies begin – indeed it becomes tricky to see him at all. His slight figure starts to recede into the shadows out of the spotlight, retreating into an existence hidden from the public gaze. In the close-up portraits Reflection and Dramatic Pause, the faces emerge from, or dissolve into, the darkness behind the curtains.

Centre Stage is a reminder that the roles we assume change and develop as our stories do. The times spent performing for an audience are balanced by those moments spent in the backstage, masks and costumes shed. Elizabeth Rees acknowledges that we are many-splendoured beings, with many parts to play.

1. Artist’s statement, August, 2014.