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MOIRÉ Series

About this series

Formal aspects of Op Art - colour and movement - are given an uncomfortable 'nudge' in order to produce paintings that are not quite the perfect geometrical constructs demanded of the genre.

These constructs are in the process of shifting, or re-arranging themselves. They teeter on the verge of a satisfactory final visual 'conclusion' or appear interrupted - frozen in motion - not quite at their optimum position. Elements are discordant which, in turn, suggests motion. I want the viewer to be compelled to have 'closure', to want, or try to, 'rectify' the image themselves.

The paintings (oil) are made up of layers of individual colour stripes. One layer is placed over the other. As a result, each layer negates, or enhances, the colour or shapes that precede them. Even though there is the possibility to predict what will happen between each layer during the painting's facture, in reality the slightest differentiation of a line's articulation, or hue resulted in a quite marked shift.

In short, this is an exercise in negotiation: individual layers reacting harmoniously or discordantly with historical layers.

The notion of prescribed, predetermined outcomes is negated in favor of exploiting a process that would reveal its own surprises dependent on what lay beneath it.

The series of paintings is a comment about how contemporary perceptions can never quite divorce, or override, themselves from history.

Elements of history may be overwritten but shifts in perception often bring them back to the surface at different times and in different ways.

Related Information

Selected pieces from this series are in the solo touring exhibition ‘Toward the Light by Pip Dickens’ (a Bradford Museums and Galleries exhibition supported by the Arts Council of England. Touring from 2010-2013. For more information contact the artist direct or visit Bradford Museums and Galleries website.

Selected pieces were exhibited in ‘Colour in Art’ at The Beldam Gallery,Brunel University, West London.

Selected pieces are published in ‘SHIBUSA - Extracting Beauty’ by Monty Adkins and Pip Dickens. ISBN  ISBN-13: 978-1-86218-101-4