Titles, an exhibition of contemporary art,

Concrete Form with Pink

Acrylic on Canvas

50 x 60 cm

2006

Collection : Department of Finance and Personnel

Titles is the latest in a series of joint annual exhibitions organised by the Department of Finance and Personnel in N. Ireland and the Office of Public Works in the Republic of Ireland.

The theme of this year's exhibition focuses on how artists title artworks and looks at the various styles and attitudes to this fundamental part of the creative process.

The title and inspiration for this painting came from the play of light on a small concrete block ( 23 x 23 x 6 cm). An austere, plain form relieved by several chamfered lines at one side that created an important vertical emphasis. The block had impact because of its simplicity and purity. In the painting's composition I used these qualities as a foundation on which to build up complex relationships of light and colour and show their expressive power - a landscape of the imagination that concerns itself with firmness and balance of volumes, proportions and structure. The painting uses a series of coloured grounds to open up spaces of pure brittle light and brooding stillness, creating a tension between the given, flat plain of the canvas and the three-dimensional spaces created by its depth of tone.


                                                                      Philip Flanagan 2011