From Breslau to Rothko to Wroclaw
Over the last few years my work has taken different directions, and I’ve begun to look at artists that hadn’t previously been on my radar. Rothko has become one of these.
Abstract qualities to my painting have become an increasing factor, and I’ve been looking far closer at brush-marks and colour – even though, perhaps especially because, a proportion of my paintings are monochromatic.
After the invitation to respond to the Rothko Tate Modern show it took some time for me to figure out what I’d like to do – pouring over the catalogue later in the studio prompted an idea.
The biggest surprise to me of his late work (though I loved his tiny sketches and maquettes) were the almost landscapes – the near monochrome brown and grey acrylics on paper and the black on grey canvases. Gradually these works reminded me of the winter’s view from a webcam over Wroclaw (capital of Lower Silesia in Poland) I’d been studying for many months – the camera churning out jpegs of the cityscape and skyline every second.
I began cropping and printing sections from this view, trying different compositions, with less or more pixilation, playing around with it in Photoshop, emphasising tones, colours, etc. – I wanted more reds and purples – ‘Rothko colours’ from the greys. And then looking, and looking, asking myself “what do I want – how should I paint this?” Finally I realised the greyed jpeg didn’t offer enough definition for me to work with – it was only a few days ago that I grabbed a good enough image.
I’d also been in contact with Jola Bielanska who co-curates the project BreslauCV in Wroclaw that explores the cities’ evolving identity. I proposed that I send paintings of this view to her, for her to photograph in situ and that we publish them jointly.
So this is the first stage – my initial sketch – towards out collaboration: a tartan rug of woven coloured brush-marks suggested by the pixels: splodges and puddles of paint that take hours to dry. I’ll have to paint several studies to find out what I want – it’s a process of exploration, each variation finding different possibilities. Some might call these mistakes – I’ve found that the unintended lead to new directions.
It will be interesting to see how the project turns out. Well, I hope so.
