Spiller and Camerons’ Face Paintings are essentially sewn masks made up of painted fragments created over many months, the main focus of which is a playful examination, exploration and deconstruction of the matter of abstract painting, drawing and mark making. The panels are put through endless additive and reductive processes on material ranging from canvas tote bags to paper and linen with the aim of finding satisfying new patinas of colour, material and texture. Each named after an Angel, the Faces although abstract are something still recognisable to all humanity as a concept. Faces can define or conceal character, attract or repel the viewer, communicate emotional responses and act as barometers of beauty. Most people don’t see these paintings as faces at first - they are almost secondary to the appreciation of the painting acting as a structure from which experimentation can take place.

Constantly challenging their construction skills by meticulously de-assembling and re-assembling various materials and mediums, the sewn panels amalgamate prior actions, thoughts and techniques in one surface and integrate personal signifiers to make one overall image. Each panel differs from the next; blending paper bags, canvas tote bags, sacks, swatches of paint smeared rags, and combining these surfaces with acrylic, charcoal, chalk, oil pastel, pencil, ink, and ephemeral paper notes. Using broken symmetry as a guideline, areas are laboriously puzzled together, lined up, and often cut apart and remade if the alignment is incorrect. Spiller and Cameron’s collaborative practice is one of extraordinary balance made possible by the pairs shared history and mutual appreciation for the others values and aesthetics.