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| Over
the last 2 years the general direction of my work has been to think
about connections between late modernist painting and popular/ mass
culture. What interests me is the juxtaposition or merging of ideas
connected with minimalism and pop. The repetitive and systematic,
serial nature of the works in the show feeds off both tendencies,
particularly as minimalism becomes integrated into contemporary mass
culture and mass culture becomes conditioned to the industrial aesthetic.
(see referential text by Hal Foster). Thus the works can be simultaneously
significant and “trite”, serious and playful, and accessible
and inpenetrable. In developing the works I made a conscious choice of limited elements-a set of four colours(BYOG) and for this exhibition the circle and centrality as the dominant motif. The circle was chosen because I wanted a strong primary shape, which can also maintain its autonomy. The circle is a common currency, so much part of our psyche that it can suggest a myriad of associations. It can mean the whole world but also mean nothing at the same time. As a form it doesn’t have the same architectural and constructive possibilities as the square, rectangle, but it remains an enigmatic shape. “Untitled (Orange and Green)” was included as a transitional piece and exemplifies my past approach to painting. This work is quite heavily layered with pattern and the constructed surface has the appearance of an old wall - rough and scored. The surface catalogues the history of the making of the work. The panel has been flooded with green paint as it lay on the floor. The contours of the surface have determined the depth of paint and colour. Over this variable green ground a grid of small orange dots has been painted, acting as a stabilising screen through which the activity underneath can be viewed. This work is characteristic of my painting in the mid 90’s, where the interplay between poured paint, a constructed surface and grid related patterns were used to investigate the physical aspects of painting. In contrast to this work the other pieces are less painterly and protracted, more direct and simpler in approach. The surfaces are ready made. The material ground of each piece has been revealed or left uncovered to allow the surface quality of each panel to interract with the painting. “Circles and peripheries” is a good example, with aluminium, ply veneer and canvas being used as the physical supports. Aluminium was chosen for its shiny industrial quality, ply for its synthetic/natural DIY quality, and canvas for its long connection with the traditions and conventions of painting. Individually,the painted circle on each panel enacts the idea of wholeness and unity. It has a central focus and concentric rings which reinforce the centre. This motif in turn decribes the shape of the panel by its relative distance from the edge. Each piece is complete and different from the rest, though related. Within the complete arrangement formal relationships are evident in terms of surface quality, colour, and the format of the circles. This patterning is organised to achieve a spread, or balance over the wall. The regularity of the gridded installation forces the viewer to see this work as a pattern , but one which shifts continually. Viewed collectively one can’t see an overall image. It keeps on breaking into parts, subsets, refusing assimilation. The viewer is then forced to negotiate visually with the work, to look selectively from part to part rather than attempt to capture the whole picture. This looking is motivated by searching for similarities and differences between the separate units. After some time looking one’s visual memory becomes activated and it is possible to sense a powerful illusion of space in front of and behind ones depth of field. The instability of colour enables this highly structured arrangement to distort and move playfully within the viewer’s field of perception. On the one hand this work presents repeated images of wholeness and completion (the circle), but then on the other hand it is impossible to grasp this piece as a visual whole. It has the appearance of a piece of funky minimal art and at the same time could be simply eye candy- or both at the same time. (Depending on one’s cultural perspective) “Untitled (Scatter)” is a triptych that evolved from the components of the Circles and Peripheries piece. The same colours and the circular motif are employed but due to the way the three panels are sequentially arranged a more dynamic narrative is set up. The left hand panel uses a circle and ring motif which is repeated in a grid pattern. As the size of each element is the same, logic tells us they should be on the same plane yet the four colours establish different positions in the visual field. The random position of the colours creates an oscillating yet static field. Motion is held in check by the grid. The right hand panel, which is a similar sheet of veneer yet showing the raw underside (another skin), has one central large circular motif painted on it. In relation to the left panel it provides a fixed close up, suggesting a change of perpective and offering a singular point of focus. Attention is directed to see both the centre and the whole panel. The central panel is covered with unprimed canvas. Overlapping circles of orange, yellow, green and blue are repeated using a different system of placement than the measured system on the left panel. The principle the placement of the circles is more like a free hand drawing where a linear movement is described within the edges of the frame. The central panel is floating and playful. The relationship between the materiality of the supports and the visual structures painted on to them refer to ideas about structuring and the destructuring and its relationship to nature and artifice. How does one negotiate with patterns/structures as representation? Ultimately, they are open to wide and contradictory interpretation, but for me it is meditation on nature, growth and patterns Similar themes are evident in the two other painted works. Both use ply veneer as support material. This material is readily available from hardware shops for among other things cladding and making furniture. The patterns on the surface represent the growth cycle of a tree and because of the thinness of the sheet it is like a layer of skin. ( it is in fact shaved off the trunk of a tree). The Wall Drawing was made as a counterpoint to the other circle orientated pieces and to quieten down the space The support for the work (the wall) and the use of media (pencil) sets this work apart from the other works and so appears to be unrelated but there are some obvious and subtle connections.The choice of the four coloursBYOG was intended to link a variety of different approaches to making artworks in my practice, and the wall drawing continues this enterprise. The design has its origins in a string wool wall piece that I made in the studio using the hanging screws from the circles and peripheries series. The diagonals act in the same way as the centres, drawing attention to the centre of each square. The size of the drawing corresponds to half the size of the circles and peripheries work. The way in which the lines were drawn up re-enacted the manner in which the woollen thread was tied to the screws , in layers, so that the spread of line and colour is to a non regular pattern, some areas are more pronounced than others inviting the perception of nuances of shape and colour. |
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