JESS COCHRANE:

FearLess
Exhibition Essay written by Chloe Waters.

Floating in the void just past the entrance of Brisbane

Powerhouse, Jess Cochranes largest portraits hang
suspended in the air. As the works find the walls in the
surrounding spaces their sizes begin to vary. Spilling across
the foyers of the building, FearLess embodies a myriad of
dichotomous tensions. The works straddle the fissures
between the photographic and the abstract, the beautiful
and the grotesque, the subject and the viewer. Thematically
Cochrane presents a challenge to the male gaze. The work
boldly confronts the impact of capitalism on the female
form in an act of reclamation.
These seductive images demand attention in size and scale
alone. The larger portraits are awash with sweeping gestural
colours, engulfing the imagery in a romantic palette of soft
hues. A distinct sense of female sensitivity is evident in
the application of the paint as it caresses the subjects with
concealment. The towering image-cum-obelisks assert a
formidable presence over the viewer. Intentionally the eyes
of the portraits remain unpainted. Subjects find themselves
empowered not only through imposing scale but also in a
defiant act of returning the viewers gaze.
Cochranes photographs alone are of a fashion magazine
standard they are posed, shot and edited as if for an editorial.
Despite having personal connections to each of her subjects,
her own complicated perception of them is translated through
the striking portrayals of the individuals, all of whom are
beautiful young women. Her aesthetic is deliberate and aware,
adjusting to suit both her subjects, and her own desire for how
they should appear. Each work is constructed out of multiple
fragments of a photograph. The work is then modified through
gestural and purposeful brushstrokes as one completed
matrix. Seductively the work draws the viewer in to see the
fragile and broken nature of the imagery. This fragmentation
and division conceptually reflects the very contradictions and
cultural commentary that Cochranes work revels in.
The smaller portraits encourage an intimacy between the
work and the surveyor. This private invitation of image to
viewer allows for closer inspection of the material elements
at play. The use of paint in these smaller works resembles
the application of make-up. The gestures are smaller and
more concentrated in manner. Through a form of concealment
Cochrane returns agency and power to the subject of her
photographs. Despite expressly depicting others, Cochrane
also alludes to concepts of the self and the nature of selfportraiture. Although one might be inclined to immediately

adopt an act of self-scrutiny in criticism of fashion and

beauty industries, Cochrane instead chooses the medium of
paint to lure the audience towards a metaphorical self. This
abstraction attempts to entice the viewer while also hindering
objectification and person-as-commodity narratives.
The fragmentary nature of the work and the application of paint
are thematically linked to the Japanese ceramic practice of
Kintsugi, where broken ceramics are repaired using precious
metals. Cochrane has applied the same philosophical principle
in her works, wherein broken objects are made more beautiful
for evidencing their breakage rather than attempting to hide
it.1 Whilst the paper is clearly placed delicately together to form
a full image, this material fragility isnt masked by the paint.
The gestural brush strokes allude to the artist working on a
completed puzzle rather than on individual fragments. Here
the paint acts as a homogenising agent for each image without
covering its broken origins.
Cochranes portraits contribute to the history of female artists
reclaiming their bodies from the male gaze, passive subjectivity
and from the objectivity of the advertising industry. Her
depictions of flesh melt into landscapes, caressed by her paintbrush in a manner that softens the gaze the female body is so
often subjected to. Her whimsical and romantic colour palette
acts as an interruption on the images surface, concealing the
subject without disfiguring it. Her deliberate choice to fragment
the body, and the works themselves, is done with a sense of
admiration for their forms, decorating the images to enhance
their beauty.
Concerned with the ways in which women see themselves and
other women, Cochranes portraits endow her subjects with a
sense of unapologetic boldness. This in turn makes her bold
too. Awarding them a beautiful representation, and pardoning
their identities from the viewers knowledge, her models are
without inhibition. The artist herself exercises her freedom in
expressionistic painting, and in turn has made her works as
much about herself as they are about others. Her challenge
to the male gaze, capitalism and her subjects, is that
although aware of the contradictions, one can still be
beautiful, and fearless.

1 As outlined by the artist.