These daydreaming anthropomorphic personages are engaged in a lavish world of their own. Self-absorbed, they appear to be lost in time and engaged in a leisurely lifestyle, where free time and recreation are central to their daily customs.
Dymock disrupts traditional painterly practices, working with innovative software, injecting excitement and present-day narratives, such as sexual orientation, play, imagination and the subliminal into her canvases. The concept of rendering volume into space has always been an interest of Dymock, hence exploring sculpture in a virtual space seemed a natural progression for her process. Drawing digital sculptures in a z-brush programme allows her to alter the condition of objects, such as materiality and illumination. These variables can be observed in her oil paintings, where the physicality of the figure and specific features like hair, eyes, lips and fingernails are represented in a puzzling, bewildering and glossy guise exuding a strange allure.
She creates digital maquettes using references from her 3D renders, sketchbook drawings, the internet and art history portraying her images in oil paint on primed canvases. During this process Dymock works intuitively and is open to changes, for instance the selection of colours and brushes.
'Squid Hat', one of her recent paintings where the main character emerges as an entirely new present-day deity is flanked by two worshippers. The blue background with grey circular motions under a classical tiled arch accommodates a Medusa-like creature carrying a large hybrid human-squid on her head. The creature is engulfed by green waves and surrounded by fish. Her left-hand pats her own face, whereas her right hand touches the head of a fish, offering a kind of spiritual blessing.
'Sucking Thumbs', like the title suggests is a painting representing two beauties sitting next to each other in stylised scenery. Both are intensely engaged in thumb-sucking, a habit of babies or young children to sooth themselves.
‘Purple Vampire’, a contemporary reincarnation of the legendary creature that survives by feeding on the vital plasma of the living. In European folklore, these predators are undead beings causing distress and horror. Dymock’s enchanting bewitching vampire deceives with its tantalising tease and sex appeal.
‘Roadkill’ is reminiscent of Jeff Koons’ iconic mirror polished balloon animals. An injured multicoloured rabbit leans against an ochre flower hedge. The female next to it is pointing at the abdominal wounds that reveal its intestine. The rabbit’s hand is touching the hurt belly whereas the sustained injuries on the left leg are discounted.
In our western society a public symbol of affection or to express feelings of closeness is often represented through ‘Holding Hands.’ Dymock’s painting with the same name does exactly that, where two mermaids playfully declare their togetherness or unity. These mythical sea-dwelling creatures are often described as having the head and body of a woman and a fish's tail below the waist. Both depicted figures are almost like identical twins that are either closely related or resemble each other.
Dymock’s visionary pictorial concepts are underpinned by the Canadian Philosopher Marshall McLuhan who described the four pillars of media as: Obsolescence, enhancement; retrieval and information access that has been stored long-term or on cloud systems and bringing it back into awareness or reversal. Dymock applies these cornerstones to her practice. She discards outdated methods and paraphernalia; enhances illustrative characteristics or features lustrously; retrieves her electronic mock-ups to explore, develop or reverse the results to a previous level. Dymock’s emblematic painterly language infuses symbolic motifs with contemporary ideologies.
Georgia Dymock attained her MA in Fine Art Painting, Distinction, in 2021-2023, at the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Prior to that she accomplished her Graduate Diploma in Fine Art, at Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London, Distinction, in 2019-2020. She completed her upper second-class degree BSC Degree in Anthropology, from the University College London, 2017-2019.
Georgia Dymock’s oeuvre has been exhibited and collected internationally, including in London, New York, Monaco, Istanbul, Miami, Mexico City, and Basel as well as being acquired by the Museum Inimá de Paula, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Future exhibitions are scheduled in Dubai, Los Angeles (solo), and with Gillian Jason Gallery (solo), London, who represents the artist.
‘Monsters, Chambers, and Trapdoors,’ an exhibition by Georgia Dymock, runs from 21 November – 11 January 2025, at Gillian Jason Gallery, 19 Great Titchfield Street, London, W1W 8AZ.
Courtesy and ©Georgia Dymock and Renée Pfister Art & Gallery Consultancy, with the assistance of Gözde Altun, 2024. All rights reserved.