Enter Gallery is shining a little brighter today courtesy of AMPED Neon - a brand new exclusive from Sara Pope, an artist known for her bold and seductive paintings of voluptuous lips.
In today’s blog, we’re diving into Pope’s inspirations and artistic career, and chatting about this new artwork, which is available exclusively at Enter Gallery.
Getting amped
AMPED Neon is a giclée print of an original piece created by Pope which combined oil painting and hand-blown neon. This combination of techniques is an intriguing mix. Oil painting is considered a traditionally high-brow art form, while prior to artists like Dan Flavin, Joseph Kosuth and Tracey Emin getting their hands on it, neon was more associated with the seedier corners of cities, and all our favourite dive bars.
Pope tells us:
‘I love the combination of the two things together, and how the neon light transforms the colours of the lips painting. My aim was to capture this in the print edition.’
Fashion forward
Pope’s pouty pieces are inspired by beauty trends, Haute Couture fashion, and the bold, glossy, eye-catching style of advertising. Her oil and acrylic artworks are intended to: ‘imitate the slickness of advertising, whilst provocatively subverting its themes.’
With each piece that captures the glamour, allure and power of the mouth, Pope calls us to question both femininity and beauty ideals.
Given her inspirations, it’s little surprise that Pope’s artistic abilities were born from years of working in media and later, in the fashion industry. Pope progressed from graphic design, to working as an art director in the magazine industry, and later to shoe design.
What started as a passion for customising footwear, lead to designing an entire collection for London Fashion Week alongside avant-garde fashion designer, Robert Cary Williams. Following the success of the show, Pope went on to design shoes for brands like Paul Smith, Lacoste and Baby Phat.
Photo-realism
While many artists are drawn to portraying the mouth, what makes Pope’s artworks stand out from the crowd is how remarkably realistic they are. So, how does she do it? Pope reveals that each piece begins life as a photoshoot, where she’ll ask the model to meditate on particular emotions or scenarios. This allows her to capture the lips in their natural expression, whether flirty or fierce.
Next, Pope begins the painting process, using multiple thin layers of oil paint to create the glass-like quality that makes each artwork so hyper-real.
AMPED Neon is from a limited edition of 25. The giclée print is beautifully-finished with a screen of diamond dust, and another screen of ultra-high gloss. Grab yours today, exclusively at Enter Gallery.
