Canadian artist, 1957- 1992.
Colour and paint texture to create atmosphere. Heavy reliance on materials (paint) since there is no subject. The paint texture carries the mood.
Letting paint drip and bleed, releasing control of paint.
Repeated (but not uniform) pattern in painting reminds me of something natural, where repetition and order can be found. Pattern being the main subject suggests the pattern continues off the canvas, expanding without limit.
The paintings are flat, without much depth. But that suggests there is something behind the patterns. They appear to be a wall up in front of the viewer, with something hidden behind. Painting on wood panel, allowing the grain of the wood to show through beneath the paint, assists in creating a feeling of something unrevealed behind the colour.
This sense of the painting holding more than the viewer can see is something I want to capture in my own work – the space and height in a big woodland that extends beyond the canvas.
Using wood as a background for my paintings may help to achieve this. The wood textures tie in with the trees in the painting, reminding the viewer of the paintings materiality. The grain of wood would also give a good grounding colour to work relatively to, making colours put on top deeper and richer.
I am continuing with last terms project which will allow me to push my ideas further, last term I had only started to use colour in my work, so for the start of this project I want the focus to be colour. Looking at the work of Dryer has prompted me to do some pure colour experiments, putting the ink work on pause whilst I concentrate on colour.
Georgina Harris 