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Melbourne Abstraction

Kim Vernon  counterpoise8 

Ian Wells    Blued  

Four Melbourne abstract painters Ian Wells, Kim Vernon, Michael Mark and Louise Blyton are showcased in Melbourne Abstraction 2005, the second annual exhibition under this title at red gallery.

The four painters are all involved with the research and manufacture of artist’s materials. Their concerns lie in the abstract possibilities suggested by their various investigations of paint, as well as an intellectual engagement with subject matter.

Painting images that depart from representational accuracy, abstract artists select and then exaggerate or simplify the forms suggested by the world around them.

Louise Blyton approaches her paintings through the most direct principals of colour and composition. The delicate surfaces of her works are created by applying layers of pure dry pigment to raw linen. Based on the arrangement of vertical and horizontal forms they rejoice in colour and the relationship between negative and positive.

Ian Wells paints with soft stains, intaglio like lines and the polished surfaces of traditional gesso panels to explore compositions that evoke physical space and the passing of perceived time.

Michael Mark is primarily concerned with light and colour, using his fingertips to apply transparent glazes over a luminous white ground.  His paintings employ traditional techniques to deposit fields of colour that jostle for attention and reflection.

Kim Vernon produces drawings and paintings which are a deep and patient response to the cities he has lived in, and travelled to.  His interest lies in the entropic nature of cities, and the way they mimic human relationships and disorder.

All four artists are Melbourne based.

Michael Mark   Bloom

Louise Blyton    Like endless rain