In her new body of work, Carly Waito indulges a fascination with the seductive and illusory materiality within traditional portrait and still life painting. In her small-scale and sensitively detailed oil paintings, Waito eliminates the primary subjects of these classic genres, retaining only the textile elements – traditionally existing as backgrounds, surface coverings or garments – which are presented here in minimal compositions designed to emphasize their particular material qualities and subjective potential.

These paintings consist of twists, knots, tangles and rippling fields of fabric which are at once ambiguous and evocative. The gestural quality of these materials can suggest tenderness or tension, a soothing lusciousness or unruly confusion. While their connection to classic representational painting is obvious – textiles being ubiquitous, if incidental, elements within this tradition – Waito's paintings are undeniably modern in their pared-back nature and directness of approach. Each piece is a singular gesture, highly specific in detail, yet remaining open to the viewer.