Feature: Art - Exhibition - Using alternative techniques to counter paint allergies - Rosalind Beiber at Spiro Ark
Published: 29 July 2010
by DAN CARRIER
ARTIST Rosalind Beiber knows about debilitating medical conditions: she had to ditch a highly promising career as a pianist in her mid-20s when she was left in agony by a hereditary muscle disorder.
She took up painting – then had to down her brushes when she became allergic to every type of paint available.
But as a new exhibition of her work shows, she is not one to give up.
Instead of using traditional techniques, she creates “paintings” using any material she can lay her hands on without suffering a reaction – and the results are stunning.
Rosalind, who lives in West Hampstead, performed at renowned venues such as Southbank before her condition came to the surface. She suffers from a form of repetitive strain injury called loose ligaments, which is heightened by playing the piano. It meant that by the age of 27 she had to choose between ending her music career or face being permanently disabled.
“The more I practised, the worse it got,” she says.
“I could not face the fact I could not play again.
“To fill the void this created, I turned to visual arts.”
Rosalind studied at the City and Guilds of London Art School, and developed an interest in the human figure.
She says this stems from experiences as a child, where she would sit outside her house at a bus stop and speak for hours to strangers, simply fascinated by these other creatures.
“[People] have been a constant source of fascination – the shapes they make, the movement, volume, tensions – and I never tire of imagining the small dramas and dreams that are in every human being. These images are reflected nowadays in my pictures.”
But a second disaster struck. Rosalind worked in a studio with a heater, and during a cold spell she had it on all day. Without realising, she was slowly being poisoned by carbon monoxide. As a result, she became allergic to the art materials she had been using.
Unable to handle oils, acrylic, or other paints, she had to find another way to pursue her craft – and the answer was to try different materials not usually associated with painting.
“I kept experimenting with new materials and techniques,” she says.
“They have changed time and again, and now I mostly use chalk, sand, rice glue, dental concrete, carborundum, raw pigment and a minute quantity of pastel.”
Born in the Lancashire town of Southport, she recalls as a child the thrill of a day trip to Liverpool, which made her home town seem unbelievably staid.
“Here was what I thought of as ‘real life’,” she says. “Raw, pulsating bustle on the cobbled streets.
“Nowadays I still experience the same childhood thrill when going to Kilburn or Kentish Town. I’m still drawn to the vitality, chaos, sheer ordinariness and even the loneliness that is part and parcel of cosmopolitan city life.”
• Rosalind Beiber’s exhibition runs until October 15 at the Spiro Ark, 5/26 Enford Street, W1H.
Monday to Friday from 11am-5pm. 020 7723 9991
Pictured:
Top: Snoozing (sand, chalk and dental concrete, 2008)
Bottom: Queue (sand and dental concrete, 2010)