Kate Whiteford
In: Time Machine: Anciet Egypt and Contemporary Art. Edited by James Putnam and W. Vivian Davies. Published by the Trustees of the British Museum and the Institute of International Visual Arts, 1994, p. 18.
The Ptahshepses door has for me an extraordinary presence.
This is due partly to its architectural quality and also to its incised hieroglyphs, which still retain traces of earth-red and green pigment. The ancient Egyptian false door is a fascinating concept, since it represents the transition point between one state of being and another.
I felt an immediate rapport with this door and began to consider parallels in my own work. I often use red and green in my paintings at maximum hue, as they burn themselves into the retina, creating an after-image in the mind. This could be read as a metaphor for memory. By playing with our perceptive faculties, the painting hovers somewhere between reality and non-reality and this duality seems to tie in with ancient Egyptian ideas.
To emphasise the connections with the false door of Ptahshepses I chose to build the painting in multiple panels to create an architectural form.