Optimism, bodies and mysticism

A review of the work of the English artist Sarah Harvey By Emer O'Kelly

My first spoken reaction to Sarah Harvey's work was “optimism”. There is a lightness of being in the works that initially lifts the soul, and it continues to lift it even after you examine the deeper elements which are far more complex and less universally sunny.

The depth has a lot to do with distortion, which is manifest throughout the theme of the work. But it is a distortion chiefly of the perimeters: the strength and power of the human form remains at the core, singing of survival and telling us that the animus, the essential being, is not dependent on our bodies and how they appear superficially.
Bodies, Sarah Harvey seems to be saying, are a more integral part  of the natural elements than we know, and if we allow ourselves to integrate with their fierce force we will gain immeasurable strength from those powerful elements.
She has recently travelled to India, and it's easy to see how she would want to – there is a mystic quality about her work which seems to have deepened in the pieces which she made on her return.

And of course all of the works are in part self-portraits. In very large part self-portraits. And that is extraordinary, because I see very different people submerging and floating in her green Tuscan swimming pool at the heart of her vision.

And it is more than a difference of mood: in some the figure is almost squat in its muscular, rooted pride. You're reminded of Michelangelo's women, representations “female-ed” from male models. In others the body is playful, slender and nymph like, floating to fulfilment with submissive grace.

But always the water is there, buoyant and trustworthy as it drifts to the edges of infinity. Water is to be respected, we all know that. In Sarah's case I gather that there is also a subliminal fear of it to be overcome. But even those of us who love the watery elements know that they can bring harm, and respect for its primeval power is essential.
But Sarah Harvey also seems to be saying that it is to be trusted: we and it are part of the same world. I don't know if that represents a creationist or an evolutionist ethos, but I like its visual representation!

And the Indian work has an ethereal additional quality; the phrase that came to my mind when I looked at it was “like Niobe, all tears”. Yet there are no tears in this work, just a deep and mature oneness with the world and its underlying current.

At only 26, Sarah Harvey has a most impressive CV. And I predict that it is going to get even more impressive in
the meantime.

These were remarks by Emer O'Kelly at the opening of an exhibition of paintings of Saran Harvey at the Oisin Gallery, Westland Row, Dublin on 4 October, 2007. The exhibition is now ended but some of Sarah Harvey's work is still on view at the gallery.