Completed Painting: 'Untitled (From The New School) 3'

'Untiled (From The New School) 3', Acrylic & Laser Print On Panel,
30 cm X 30 cm X 106 mm, 2017

Three's a crowd; but (in my mind, at least) it's also the point at which a group of closely-related artworks might be first thought of as a series.  Thus, I guess this new painting represents the an early fulfilment of my desire to produce a series of pieces in response to Andrew Smith's painting 'The New School'.

However, it really is just a beginning.  '4' is already in progress, with several more of these deep little panels made and waiting.  The intention is to produce a lot of these, at least whilst the inspiration and novelty prevail.  It's completely the wrong way to think, of course, but I can't help imagining a room with a whole procession of them around the walls.  That really is to put the cart before the horse though, so I'm just going to focus on one at a time, without putting any proposed final number on the series, until they (or I) run out of steam.

I've thought quite a bit about this tendency I have to work in groups or series just lately.  The reality is that, over the last few years, it's been increasingly rare for me to make a simple, self-contained statement, and simply let it stand on its merits independently.  This isn't the place to expound on the wider implications of that (and to any deeper psychological insights they may reveal) - not least because I haven't really come to any meaningful conclusions as yet.  However, don't be too surprised if I return to the theme in future posts.

Andrew Smith, 'The New School', Acrylic & Digital Print On Canvas, 2016

'Untitled (From The New School) 1', Acrylic On Panel,
30 cm X 30 cm X 112 mm, 2017

'Untitled (From The New School) 2', Acrylic & Laser Print On Panel,
30 cm X 30 cm X 112 mm, 2017

As far as this individual piece goes, it's clear there is a little progression from its two predecessors, and it's worth mentioning that this synthetically 'pretty' colouration is a deliberate departure from the cooler-hued palette of both them and Andrew's original image.    It's also the first to incorporate some form of observed 'reality' - the implied window is now tacitly accepted as such. It was originally nothing more than two blocks of colour, but now includes simplified, references to the actual reflections in a glass curtain observed at my own workplace.  In other respects, we're still firmly in the territory of careful, formally precise painting here.  It's certainly not my intention that all of them will be that way though - and that appears to be changing even as I write this.  More soon...