Daniel on Audrey. The Tessellation Series.
My definitive reflection on this series of paintings is a sense of benign engagement.
There are a total of six pieces, each a square metre, all painted in white and black.
Here we are offered one of many operations to consider, the white is not white, nor is the black black.
There is little urgency in these consideration, rather we are slipping from one realization to another with an inchoate ease. We are in the ontological field where art is liberated from the constraints of representation. We sense something to be uncovered, revealed and are prepared to look for it.
The formal structure of the patterns is rigorous and exact. Edges are crisply defined and defiant, no random gestures to be found here. And yet the focus shifts and slips about in a disconcerting manner, light bunches up into pinpricks, razor sharp and herein lies another seductive and elusive charm. Throughout we remain engaged, not because of what we know but more that we accept not knowing and remain enthralled in our role as the viewer. We undermine ourselves to reveal the new unexplored, unconsidered moment.
Figure and ground slide about, pulsations appear and vanish in the blink of an eye.
Line bends, converge and then easily and quietly settle. We move on, go back, play, cat, mouse and always waiting for the next surprise.
We are inside a transparent world, layers upon layers of tantalizing operations which reveal ever increasing complexities and refinement.
There is no tonal quality to the works. Every operation is pared down to it's essential almost mechanical value. We understand that these are tessellations and can see something about the juxtaposing interplay that bind and energize these constructs, but what we have here is informed not by a rigid functional dogma but by the almost naive workings of a playful mind.
There are numbers to play with, patterns, shapes like snakes, lozenges and discs hovering about, vials and severed heads, reflective and absorbent surfaces and there is nothing but six benign and engaging tessellations.
posted by hectorjo at 12:44 pm
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