Bruton was commissioned to produce an artwork for a large wall as part of the redevelopment of the Outpatients Unit at Charing Cross hospital. Using her own experience of painting and research carried out at the V&A Wallpaper Archive, she created the work Landing Girls. The piece looks carefully at the relationship between wallpaper and painting, she draws on the pattern and repetition of wallpaper whilst maintaining the physical traces of the painting process. The original painting can be seen in the waiting area and the wallpaper design transforms the open plan check-in space. Select elements from the painting have also been used on the glazing of the phlebotomy waiting room bringing privacy to an internal space and helping to connect the different zones of a large hospital unit.
Bruton writes: “The images are based on found decorative motifs from fabric and wallpaper design, with figures adapted from aviation diagrams and manuals. Within the work, fragments of pattern create an artificial environment to explore where small figures attempt to communicate with the viewer to playfully encourage them to navigate the space.”
Jo Bruton is a British painter and senior lecturer in fine art at Chelsea College of Arts.