Exposed Violet Painting #1
175.3 cms x 160 cms (69 ins x 63 ins)
On verso signed with initials, titled on labels and dated 1993
made in 1993
Lot offered for sale by Heffel, Vancouver at the auction event "International Art (5th session)" held on Thu, Apr 25, 2024.
Lot 421
Lot 421
Realised: CAD $18,750
Lot description - from the online catalogue*
Provenance:
Frith Street Gallery, London
Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, California
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Vancouver, 2012
Notes:
In Callum Innes’s "Exposed" paintings, pigment is diligently layered and removed: oil paint is first painted onto the canvas and then, before it has finished drying, brushed over again with turpentine - washing out and partially effacing the previously applied colour field. This act of "unpainting" results in complex, nuanced abstractions, revealing the depth of variation within the curtains of colour as each layer is applied and re-applied. The result evokes a simplicity of form that gravitates around the elemental, fluid nature of colour and the depths to be found in the simplicity of form. Exposed Violet Painting #1 is an early example, comprising two fields of black and white. While at first glean this appears monochromatic, the work denies stark geometries or pure colour: a subtle iridescence animates the surface; and the bisecting, violet center line is softened, slightly off balance, betraying the hand of the artist and grounding the work in the humanistic act of painting. By breaking down singular paint into its fluid traces, Innes captures colour in the act of its dissolution, and arrests his chromatic fields in a moment that continually oscillates between visibility and concealment.
Please note: this work is unframed.
Frith Street Gallery, London
Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles
Private Collection, California
Acquired from the above by the present Private Collection, Vancouver, 2012
Notes:
In Callum Innes’s "Exposed" paintings, pigment is diligently layered and removed: oil paint is first painted onto the canvas and then, before it has finished drying, brushed over again with turpentine - washing out and partially effacing the previously applied colour field. This act of "unpainting" results in complex, nuanced abstractions, revealing the depth of variation within the curtains of colour as each layer is applied and re-applied. The result evokes a simplicity of form that gravitates around the elemental, fluid nature of colour and the depths to be found in the simplicity of form. Exposed Violet Painting #1 is an early example, comprising two fields of black and white. While at first glean this appears monochromatic, the work denies stark geometries or pure colour: a subtle iridescence animates the surface; and the bisecting, violet center line is softened, slightly off balance, betraying the hand of the artist and grounding the work in the humanistic act of painting. By breaking down singular paint into its fluid traces, Innes captures colour in the act of its dissolution, and arrests his chromatic fields in a moment that continually oscillates between visibility and concealment.
Please note: this work is unframed.
Most realised prices include the Buyer's Premium of 18-25%, but not the HST/GST Tax.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.
(*) Text and/or Image might be subject matter of Copyright. Check with Heffel auction house for permission to use.