Abstract
The beauty of abstract art is that it is more open to interpretation - pulling a depiction away from any literal, representational reference points.
Approaching it with an open, inquiring mind, it allows you the viewer to enter the painting and see where it takes you, giving you the freedom to explore the artwork and assign your own meaning to the piece, enriching your experience of an artwork.
Abstract artists have a finely honed sense of composition and deep understanding of the workings of colour and through this they choose to express their painting by creating a visual experience not necessarily representative of real world 'objects.'
Each person's emotions, sensations or memories of a particular time or place evoked by a painting are going to be different and that is why we love art. Let the painting "speak" to you and just enjoy!
This exhibition features six large abstract paintings.
‘Covent Garden’ is a memory of Alison walking through a flower market such as Covent Garden. Feeling energised by the beautiful colours, sights and smells.
The other large abstract paintings were inspired by looking at a selection of the palettes used by famous nineteenth and twentieth-century artists, Gauguin, Kandinsky, Degas, Frida Kahlo and Renoir.
Originally inspired by the soak-stain technique of Helen Frankenthaler, which she pioneered in the 1950, Alison's interest in this type of painting and interpretation was spiked in 2015 by
the discovery of one of Francis Bacon’s heavily encrusted palettes on display in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin and later in 2016 when she came across the collection of Whistler’s palettes on view in the Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow.
Please enjoy below some videos made by Alison featuring some of the abstract paintings forming part of this exhibition.
'After Frida Kahlo's Palette', Image 100 x 100 cm, Oil on Linen
'After Gauguin's Palette', Image 100 x 100 cm, Oil on Linen