Desire lines are the trodden paths chosen and created by the collective, both human and animal alike; an indent in urban or country space that archives the small, unplanned choices of many. They often diverge from the planned architectural design of a space, tracing instead the path of least resistance; a record of movement improvised rather than prescribed, and often more interesting than the predetermined route.
Jasmine Mowbray recognises the same instinct in her own way of working. Rather than beginning from a fixed image and working towards its completion, she creates the conditions for different processes to emerge — synthesising, distilling, splitting apart. She joins forces with her materials rather than imposing a plan onto them.
Jasmine Mowbray in her studio. Photo: Erin Neville.Jasmine Mowbray in her studio. Photo: Erin Neville.
Materially, the paintings are built through slow acts of layering, scraping, staining, and removal. Oil, acrylic, pumice, and mixed media absorb into or resist the surface, producing subtle shifts in sheen that change as the viewer moves; positive and negative space continually exchange roles, refusing to settle. This process echoes the very landscapes that first inspired it. Construction grids become supports for climbing weeds. Plant structures weave through geometric frameworks. Reflections collapse sky and earth onto a single surface. Water, mineral deposits, stained-glass rhythms, and mosaic-like fragments produce spaces where foreground and distance, interior and exterior, memory and observation remain in continual negotiation.
'Desire Lines' by Jasmine Mowbray at Curatorial+Co.
