The painting-objects Molly Thomson makes are developed through a process of cutting, disassembling and reassembling. Whether the starting point is a single panel or multiple components, she begins with basic rules, only then to break them in order to de-stabilise the thought process and provoke uncertainty. The resulting work can seem part-rational and part the product of play.
Modestly scaled and light in touch though the work is, it is the physical body of the painting that interests her - its structure, its painterly facade, its recesses. Even its behaviour. Along the way there may be errors, losses and repairs as gaps occur, insides become outsides and contours shift. Sometimes elements are repurposed and ongoing pieces cross-fertilize. In the meantime, paint is poured in thin layers, allowing the structure itself to govern the delicate skin as it travels over seams, edges and obstacles.
In all the work, final points of arrival are not predetermined, and despite the recurring internal geometries, the identity of each piece has evolved through its own history of moves and countermoves.
Thomson was born in Scotland and studied Fine Art (Sculpture) at Edinburgh College of Art, later completing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London. She went on to teach painting at Falmouth College of Art and the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art before becoming Subject Leader for Painting at Norwich School of Art and Design. She now lives and works in Norfolk.