SELECTED FOR BLACK SWAN ARTS OPEN, FROME. 15 JULY - 11 SEPT 2022
A painting that personifies Matisse's theory of a painting being resolved when it reconnects with the emotion that sparked it. My interest in the coastal landscape is the interplay between geometry and movement - in this case, the catalyst a white building with a triangle of blue between chimney and roof and a wind you cannot see. But this painting is also about the three-dimensionality of sky - a rarity in my work. I remembered Robin Greenwood writing about the spatial complexity of Constable's skies in Abstract Critical and the phrase 'architecture of sky' sprang to mind but not the source. Google led me to this poem by Claudine Toutoungi - perfect.
'the architecture of sky
is the song of a robin
whose Cubist grammar
is holding us up'
The painting evolved from a demonstration of gestural mark-making in the recent Port Isaac painting-course (1). How to transform an exercise into a painting? My subject (and contrast) are imposed on the painting: the wrong green leads to the red.(2). Hints of landscape. Orange lifts the red.
A dissatisfaction with the eye led downwards with the green provokes a flirtation with a change of orientation - but instead, the spring of the cut line curving upwards through the refined blue, topped by a balancing blue mark in the top-right corner, brings the painting to life.(3). The space is further opened by carving out the weighty red but the graphic chimney is an alien language for this painting (4).
A re-look at the subject brings clarity and purpose to the painting with the addition of a startling blue and a fast, leaning mark through the 'chimney' which makes the space even deeper. Now I can feel the wind...
