Interview with Juliet Gibbs: the Interplay Between the Organic and the Manmade

Somerset-born Juliet E P Gibbs is an artist currently living and working in North West London. With her charcoal drawings, sketches, and oil and acrylic paintings, Juliet explores the contrast between the organic and the human-made. Her close-cropped and large-scale botanical paintings stand out for their lush palettes of forest greens and metallic hues.

How has 2023 been for you so far?

I’ve had a very gentle start to 2023. I can’t actually believe we’re a third of the way in already! I’ve been working away in my studio, which I try to get to twice a week if I can. Since the pandemic, I’ve felt a shift and I think everything is just a little bit slower. But that’s good – I’m in no rush at the moment.

What does a normal day in the studio look like for you?

It takes me around 40 minutes to get into my studio so it’s always a bit of a relief when I walk through the door and up my stairs. I usually start my creative day with a bit of admin. I like to research potential locations to visit for source material, and to find inspiration through other painters and artists I find. At this point, I turn to whatever painting I have on the go and start by preparing my colour palette, brushes and mediums so everything is within a comfortable distance from my work. I normally listen to a podcast or an audiobook when I paint, as I find it easier to focus visually if I have something to think about. I normally paint until around 4:30pm, when I know the roads are about to get busy, and this is usually the time I clear up my paint brushes and put away my things. I don’t ever leave without cleaning my brushes. This is a ritual, but it’s also a must – good brushes are expensive!!

What/who influences you?

I’m influenced massively by the painting scene – surprise? Artists I’ve been excited about recently are Hurvin Anderson, Caroline Walker, Peter Doig and Nick McPhail. The first time I was truly inspired by seeing a plant in a painting was at a Lucian Freud exhibition. I saw the painting ‘Interior with Plant, Reflection Listening. (Self-Portrait)’ and was completely fascinated by the concept of a painting essentially presented as a self-portrait, where the ‘self’ was in the background, an afterthought. The plant takes centre-stage in that painting and it’s so beautifully painted – he was the master of the brushstroke. I don’t know how he put so much information onto the canvas with the most simple of strokes. I think he spoke about painting plants as if they were portraits of people, and that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to emulate with my recent paintings.

Many of your paintings feature the interplay between organic, growing structures and more static manmade ones. How do you see this relationship?

The relationship between the organic and the manmade is integral to my work. I am fascinated with the interplay of these two worlds we all live between. My painting Plastic Ray is based on the glasshouse in Hamburg Botanical Gardens. I visited the glasshouse with some friends a few years ago and the structure really stood out to me. Unlike the Victorian setting of Kew in London, this glasshouse was much more functional, with steel structures acting as a sort of skeleton to the living, breathing environment within. A huge wave of plastic sheeting fell across the whole ceiling and it almost looked like sunlight streaming through the windows. The stark contrast between the tropical plants within the steel and plastic-coated environment was completely fascinating to me.

I haven't seen any humans in your works, but each plant seems to have its own personality. ‘Grass on the Platform’, for example, feels much more dark and brooding than ‘Plant Study’: Up Close, which seems to contain more hope. Is this intentional?

You’ve nailed it! I intentionally don’t paint people into my paintings. I really love the idea of the plants having their own personalities. A lot of my paintings put the plants at the very front and centre of the canvas, without much in the background to let the eye wander. I want the subjects to appear as if almost suspended – floating within the constraints of the canvas: they are the core of the paintings and this is an immersive experience for the viewer. It’s interesting to hear that you’ve picked up on personalities and differences in character between the paintings. I do think this is true, and that each plant has it’s own vibe, depending on the environment I’ve painted around it. Sometimes the environments are literal depictions and sometimes I piece together bits of places I’ve seen – like Frankenstein’s monster.

I also value the idea that nature is ultimately the most powerful force on this earth. No amount of concrete or steel will change that. No matter how much we damage and destroy the environment around us, when humans become extinct, nature will still be here – and it will thrive without us.

Are there any other Rise Art whose work you are enjoying at the moment?

I’ve been a fan of Johanna Melvin’s work for a while through Instagram. The way she mixes abstract shapes and forms with deliberate, painterly strokes really inspires me to try out more physical methods of painting. Additionally, the work of Marianne Hendriks is always catching my eye on the Rise Art feed. Her bold leaves look simple to the eye but the minute you click into the painting to see it larger, you can see the complex nature of the work. It’s stunning!

Are you currently working on any exciting new projects?

At the moment I’m mostly working on personal projects. I am going to put on my own solo show of works toward the end of the year, so I’m just building up a body of work for this. You should come along!