(Barnett Newman)

16 September – 6 November 2016

This exhibition explores colour through the practices of 3 contemporary painters; Virginia Bodman, Julian Brown and Gill Ord.

They use colour to draw us into their work and seduce us, but also confound our expectations with unusual or dissonant contrasts. By using colour strategically they help us to become actively engaged in the process of thinking and looking at painting; unpicking and discovering our likes, dislikes, prejudices and associations.

Starting points for their work may be diverse but each artist has developed an understanding of colour which enables them to improvise within the process of making. Because each colour is affected by the following colour the painting can be continuously revised, and this is is balanced by planning and thinking about the structure and composition.

The title of the exhibition comes from a series of large-scale paintings by the American abstract expressionist Barnett Newman, created in the late 1960s. He was critiquing the use of colour according to theory, rather than for its more expressive qualities. It highlights the way our understanding of colour begins with the rules we learn when we are young, and often develops unconsciously with our observations from the world around us.

The exhibition was curated by Emily Glass especially for OBS Gallery.