Interview with Cass Art

ARTIST INTERVIEW: ADELAIDE DAMOAH

 in Interviews by Cass Art

Artist Interview: Adelaide Damoah

Adelaide Damoah is a British artist of Ghanaian descent whose earlier work combined African and Western influences while highlighting social issues. A founding member of the BBFA (Black British Female Artists Collective), her current practice involves using her body as a “living paintbrush” to paint or print onto various surfaces. We caught up with Adelaide to find out more about her practice…
 

 

 
Hi Adelaide, central to your practice is the use of your body as a ‘living paintbrush’. Tell us about your choice of paint.

 

 
I love the texture, look and feel of oil paint, so at first, I used just that. Initially, I used only permanent alizarin crimson by Winsor and Newton or Michael Harding. I chose this colour because I wanted to get something that reminded me of tissue and blood and I felt that this colour was most consistent in getting across the feeling that I wanted. It’s probably not sensible to use oil paint on skin! As a consequence, I now use water mixable oil paint by Winsor and Newton. It’s much easier to wash off and less irritating to the skin. I adore the vibrancy of Michael Harding alizarin crimson too and I have some of his oils.

 

 
For my last performance I used Winsor and Newton Artisan water mixable ultramarine blue. It looked very shiny, beautiful and dark against my skin. Against the white canvas it was a perfect shade of ultramarine. I wanted something as close to Yves Klein’s blue as possible. 
 
 
To read the rest of this interview on the Cass Art Blog, please click here.
To download a PDF of the interview, please click here.