Vivid: 12 British Artists and American Abstract Painters

'Vivid: 12 British and American Abstract Painters' was worked out of the schism between colour field painting and the work of Minimalism and Post-minimalism. The paintings in this exhibition reconsider and extend the interests on both sides of this debate. The painterly practices exhibited are concerned with facture, process and colour, and the materiality and immateriality of painting in an unapologetic way.

For Vivid, I exhibited two new paintings: 'Untitled, Monochrome' and 'The Next Ten Minutes' both large abstract paintings: the former a monochrome whilst the latter was made up of abstract ‘smudges’ on shiny black Formica. Tarrying with the schism inherited by painters today, the other painters also engaged in abstract work, although several works (Diana Cooper, Daniel Sturgis, Joan Key) hinted at recognisable images and several created a tension between the fabrication of the painting and the imagery with titles such as: ‘Forest of the Night’ (Jonathan Feldschuh) ‘The Waterfront’ (Dennis Hollingsworth) and ‘Sterling Lasso’ (Martyn Simpson).

In terms of paintings’ materiality and immateriality, the artists deployed a diversity of materials: works included plywood, enamel, cardboard, plastic and eggshell paint thereby emphasizing both the formal aspects of the work and the broader issues surrounding materials now used in painting.