 |
Iceland I, oil on canvas, Pip Dickens
This series represents a number
of paintings
that were produced as result
of an art travel
award to Iceland in 1995.
The landscape revealed many paradoxes
- at
once harsh and unforgiving, at
other times
soft and very beautiful. Stark
colour contrasts
abound - most particularly between
the black
lava soil and white snow. This
phenomenon
is a graphic extreme and can,
at times, distort
depth of vision and confuse evaluation
of
the true scale of the landscape.
(To see
a selection of research photographs
click
here)
Resultant paintings played with
the idea
of extremes and confusion.
Some paintings as with Glacier
Zebra utilize
black and white paint in a free
flowing application
to produce a zig zag effect not
unlike that
observed in the landscape and
within a glacier
flow. In this painting three
stratas can
be discerned after a time. The
top part of
the painting representing the
land, the middle
the flow, the third the land
again.
However, all appear as if one
and this is
further endorsed by the method
of making
- a simultaneous manipulation
of flowing
black and white paint applied
flat and then
immediately tilted to and fro
until the desired
affect is achieved.
Other paintings played with the
idea of black
and white within the order of
application.
For example taking a painting
from a black
ground and through many applications
of translucent
white layers, producing a rich,
luminous
whiteness - not unlike that of
ice. Iceland
I is an example.
to see paintings from this series
click here.
|
|
|
