It's on days as sunny as this one that we wish we could dive into the pool featured in Sarah Harvey's intriguing self portraits.
The British painter aims to distort and obscure her self-portraits using the reflections in water to do so. Harvey creates her works by getting a friend or passerby to take a series of pictures of her submerged under water and contorting her body in strange positions. She then paints herself the results of which look about as realistic as any photo we've ever seen.
Her work is inspired by a visit to Tuscany where she happened upon a green swimming pool that has inspired much of her work to date. Speaking of her work and inspirations Harvey says, 'My paintings of figures floating are predominantly self portraits. I aim to create paintings that arouse both a sense of well being and pleasure, whilst simultaneously suggesting notions of insecurity, fantasy and sexuality. Entirely suspended by the water, the human forms are fragmented by the ripples and swirls created by the water, abstracting them, and often with implausible results such as the appearance of disfiguration or distortion. I have become increasingly excited about the abstract elements in these works, and the interplay between light, colour and water. The emerging patterns are becoming more apparent and dominant, drawing the eye not only towards the main focal point of the human form, but also to the surrounding areas, which are of equal significance.'
Check out some of our favourite pieces from Harvey above.
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