- Venue
- https://alephcontemporary.com/exhibitions/16-helen-brough-lightscapes-pastels-on-paper/video/
- Starts
- Thursday, April 16, 2020
- Ends
- Thursday, April 30, 2020
- Address
- https://alephcontemporary.com/
- Location
- London
- Organiser
- Aleph Contemporary
HELEN BROUGH: ‘Lightscapes’
16th April – 30th April, 2020
Press Release
Aleph Contemporary is delighted to present the first solo show by British artist Helen Brough, in their online virtual gallery.
“‘Lightscapes’ transcends any particular place and becomes itself both here and elsewhere at the same time, embracing the magic and the scientific, the natural and the artificial, the topological and the poetic dimensions of colour.” – Helen Brough
Brough’s point of departure is the complex physical properties of colour and light but, she explains, although the science is understood, the mystery of colour remains as if its power can still possess mythological and transformative energies.
Compositional decisions are made in various studies and proportions for the colour and form ratios, resolved. Initially working with these basic materials, and the act of pushing the pastel dust around the paper, defines the path for the larger paintings in oil on aluminium.
The pastel work titled ‘Cadmium Orange Blue Deep’ 2020, (45 x 45 cm) is a symmetrical composition with a large triangle that changes tone from deep red-orange to light yellow-beige. The contrast between orange and blue is what Paul Klee termed a superior energy. This contrast is the main focal point of the drawing, a meeting of complimentary colours. The light blue at the top section of the piece is perceived as sky; when the orange changes to light beige and touches the blue, it becomes the horizon. This pastel drawing is a stunning example of the use of analogous and complementary colours to create energy and bold contrast with a sense of harmony and balance. Brough is inspired by the paintings of the 1950’s by American Abstract Expressionists Mark Rothko, Barnet Newman, Clyfford Still, characterised by large areas of more or less flat single colour, and by the Colour Field abstractions of the 1960’s by Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Lewis, Kenneth Noland, which made colour relationships the chief carriers of emotional content.
To see virtual exhibition, go to Viewing Room in www.alephcontemporary.com
