Colour Studies Re-Representation

The working methods developed as part of Re-Representation were further extended in early 2013 by referencing ongoing interests in the history and theories of abstract painting from the 1970s, in particular notions of a colour field and the possibilities of shaped painting.

Michael Fried’s critical commentary introducing a pictorial structure generated by the interaction between a literal (outside) shape and a deductive structure (internal pattern) responding to Frank Stella’s paintings from the early 1970s, was heavily referenced. Initially the shape was the product of the alignment of two rectangles, one using the proportional measurements of specific paintings, selected because of the intensity of the direct encounters with the works – Las Meninas, Guernica and Number 32 by Pollock – while the other rectangle was based on the proportions of an A4 sheet of writing paper. This strategy was further extended by a number of ‘collaborative’ engagements with a number of found paintings and reproductions of impressionist paintings.

Additionally, a number of shaped paintings were developed from encounters with conference tables that had a particular historical or political significance: NALGO Room, Working Class Movement Library, Salford; Conference Table from Museo dal Revoluciones, Havana; Library Table used by Marx and Engels in Chethams Library, Manchester.