Dimensions: support: 1270 x 1270 mm frame: 1342 x 1342 x 48 mm
Copyright: © The estate of Ian Stephenson | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Ian Stephenson’s large, square canvas, known as "Polychromatic G," presents us with a captivating field of layered color and texture. Editor: It has such a subdued palette; at first glance, it felt almost monochromatic to me. The density of the paint application is striking. What's the story behind that "G," though? Curator: Well, Stephenson was deeply engaged with the legacy of Abstract Expressionism, specifically the work of Barnett Newman. We can see the "G" as a kind of symbolic marker, a signifier, perhaps, of the artist's own presence. Editor: Given that letters and numbers often function as symbols of naming, memory, and identification, is he perhaps gesturing toward the complex relationship between the artwork's creator and its reception? Curator: Precisely. It's about claiming a space within a lineage, while simultaneously interrogating the very structures of that lineage. Editor: Such a thoughtful, multi-layered interaction to consider! Curator: Indeed, a painting that invites us to consider the weight of history and the possibilities of renewal.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/stephenson-polychromatic-g-t00523
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Boon is a large oil painting on canvas by the American artist James Brooks. The canvas is covered with abstract forms in shades of black, grey, white and yellow that are rendered in various thicknesses of paint using multi-directional, gestural brushstrokes. In the left of the picture a tumble of rounded, greyish-white billows of paint travel down the image from top to bottom, becoming wider as they reach the lower edge of the picture. To the right of this, a series of black, white and yellow abstract shapes knit together and overlap each other in a rhythmic fashion, seeming to flow from top centre to bottom right. The areas of black paint are the most visually pronounced, while patches of brilliant golden yellow punctuate the background and bring coherence to the otherwise chaotic central area of the shallow pictorial space.
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