The paintings of Rannva Kunoy (b. 1977 and based in London) are deliberately occupying an uneasy space between opposing extremes, something recognisable but intangible, physical without being material. Always evident in the work is the negotiation between thought and process. The surface is pushed towards a hybrid of sorts, the marks are as thin and lacking in texture as possible, in it an attitude of almost anti-composition and deliberate ambiguity.
Kunoy achieves this surface by applying layers of crystal paint to dark monochrome backgrounds that vary in a degree of translucency and saturation. The crystal paint allows for a chemical process of light shining in and out of the canvas, giving an appearance of a three-dimensional and holographic quality causing the surface to almost hallucinate.
The intellectual basis for Kunoy’s work is direct and clear and gives way to works that carry a charged ambiguity coupled with a slight anarchic and absurdist approach to image making in a language and mark distinctly her own.
