Spatial Subtleties
((September 2007 - June 2008)
Travel and how we perceive space, that is travelled through has been a key idea that I have focused on for the past year. I wanted to show how we can appreciate space and how a minimal space can have such beautiful or visual stimulating elements.
I am especially fascinated by the subtleties in space, for example, line and how the perspective is composed in an image. The relationship between the viewer and the spaces that I present are a factor that I have become more aware of as my work has developed. Through presenting these minimal spaces that may not directly relate to the scale or form of a typical or familiar room, I would like my audience to think about how they would imagine they were positioned, considering the composition and scale of my paintings. I believe that the perception of simple space is crucial to the awareness and understanding of where we travel to. I have been looking at the theory of ‘The White Cube’.
In order to research this subject and the language of painting to suit my ideas, I have looked at minimal architects, such as John Pawson, and the work of Richard Serra, Agnes Martin and John Carter.
Light has been a key element in my work. I have been working with greys for a long time and decided to take a new direction, looking at light greys, blues and turquoises. Moving on from this, I decided to consider the surface, trying to create an immaculately smooth surface; I discovered there was something quite beautiful about using one tone, varying the number of layers painted, which accentuates the perspective and suggests spatial depth. I wanted to play around with the perspective and the idea of shadows being cast, to suggest a presence, which I identified through laying fine strips of masking tape. I feel that the tape adds another dimension to the work. It adds depth and the surfaces appear to tilt. I would like my audience to think about how they feel in the space and to try to understand how the space is composed.
Whilst working on these paintings, I realised that they had a great impact when placed together. By installing them in series and with very particular attention to their related positions on the wall, a strong sense of dialogue between architectural space and formal suggestion of purity, calm and beauty develops.
One quote that seems to have particular relevance is by Gaston Bachelard from ‘Poetics of Space’:
“There is nothing like the silence to suggest a sense of unlimited space.”