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painterly, compositional or structural) to create a
scenario contained within the boundaries of the work.
Bonnie Brown deals with some of these dualities in her
statement; “Light, its effects and qualities of transience,
fragility and hope, inform the work. This is translated
into colour and tone reflecting these qualities. Through
a process of layering up colour with glazes and stains,
the surface is enriched both through a saturation and a
de-saturation of colour to achieve the sense of
presence and non-presence, the fleeting and ever
changing response to the two states of being, both real
and the shadow world of memory”.
The language of colour can be seen as a type of code.
Colour, like marks, gestures, scale, can be an analogue
for aspects of personal and observed human experience
and behaviour. For example, saturated, pure colour
against muted, pale hues sets up a relationship.
The extension of, or surface area of colour can be as
significant as the quality of colour in terms of creating
a tension or balance between forms or colour areas.
Recognising the interdependence of the formal and
expressive functions of colour, Brian Bishop develops
a body of work which functions equally successfully in
two or three dimensions; “This work is formed from an
informal alphabet of opposites. Crossing and utilizing
both 2D and 3D elements, the work aims to impose
ideas into mediums through colour, growing from a
sculptural background through a long historical
investigation and practice. This use of colour is
significant in the exploration and understanding of the
spatial depth of how form and colour work together.”
Here we can see how colour is used as one of the
formal elements of art and is taking on a structural
significance in Bishop’s work.
Colour activates an additional layer of meaning or
visual information which may be decoded by the
viewer. For many artists, a personal and subjective code
is developed in an intuitive manner, but a code that is
decipherable by the viewer in a similarly intuitive way.
Bonnie Brown
Night Shore, Oil on Canvas, 50 x 50 cm
Brian Bishop
Niz - Nah, Acrylic on Canvas, 80 x 80 cm