• Painting

Cathy Dorman

A Typological Problem

My work explores light and experience in domestic space. It challenges the viewer’s perception, shifting between representation and abstraction. Through model making, photography, paint and sculpture, the work investigate light within spaces broken down into a series of planes. It experiments with perspective, flattening space into two dimensions by disrupting the order and harmony of these spaces.
Modern architecture has altered the conventions of domestic life expanding the definition of ‘home’ by accommodating its occupants in spaces and arrangements that reflect the activities and values of their occupants. Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, a 1950s weekend house designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for his client Dr Edith Farnsworth, gave rise to interpersonal conflict involving gender and sexuality, which spilled into an intense newspaper debate about American domesticity, sexuality and the politics of the modern house. Farnsworth is at the core of this body of work.