Colour and metals

Opening Date: 2005-Apr-23
Closing Date: 2005-May-31
For this solo exhibition in the commercial gallery, Galerie Renate Bender Munich (www.galerie-bender.de), I showed nine paintings that had not been previously exhibited from the 'Colour and Metals' series. They ranged in size from 24 x 72cms to 45 x 180cms. I began work on this extensive series in 1986 and it continues to the present day. In this area of my practice, referred to above as 'objectness and Minimalism' I explore artists' colours derived, usually by an oxidisation process, from the metals; iron, lead, aluminium, copper, chrome, tin and zinc. In these multi panel paintings I juxtapose canvasses painted with pigment adjacent to the specific metal from which the pigment is derived. I am especially concerned here with revealing the material fact of non-figurative painting. Like a number of German commercial galleries Galerie Bender launches solo exhibitions to an invited audience of up to 100+, with an opening oration given by invited (i.e. not attached to the gallery) speakers. The speeches, published as essays (see attached), are often lengthy and certainly academically rigorous placing the work into a contemporary and historic context. Here the speaker was Dr Michel Fehr, director of the Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Germany.

Following this exhibition I was invited by The Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter to propose new and site specific paintings from this area of my practice to be made for the interior and exterior walls of the new extension to the museum designed by Allies and Morrison, architects, London.