Verity Coward
33 1/2 x 39 3/8 x 1 3/8 in.
Grammar 4 seems to suggest a view from above into a dynamic composition where rough, stylised objects, painted in muted browns and greens, seem to engage in a kind of dance. The quick brushstrokes and earthy background give the painting a feeling of movement and a sense of possibility emerges from its drafted, unfinished appearance.
Across her work, Coward draws on the idea of hijinks and ruses, which she uses as strategies to find distance from reality, smuggling in messages of freedom and agency. Her paintings originate with rough cardboard and papier-mâché models, quickly made and shaped by the unpredictable behaviour of the materials. These models never appear directly in the finished works but act as starting points, helping Coward move in new and unexpected directions instead of following a set plan. The original models still live inside the paintings in some way: sometimes clearly visible, other times completely transformed.