Bob Edgson, Fieldplay
Precise measurements and colour combinations are highly scrutinised in his process, seen here within his notebooks.
Recently completed work with Bob Edgson develops upon a new project, extended from an ongoing series of paintings. These works continue the artist’s long interest in an objective approach to colour, construct and, increasingly, rhythm as a basis for an expressive visual language.
His paintings and prints are typically characterised by a square format and have a highly structured approach. Their systematical grids are a distinctive compositional feature of his works.
We are delighted to publish two new prints Fieldplay: Meridiana and Fieldplay: Signifier which are prime examples of this deeply considered process. Read on to find out more.
Significant influences for the artist’s ‘organising principles’ were taken from discoveries as a student into the work of constructivist artists such as Kenneth Martin, Richard Paul Lohse and Alan Reynolds. The use of simple dynamic elements and subtle rhythm provided a solid foundation from which he was able to build. The words of Martin upon Abstract Art have remained close and instructive to Edgson and his practice:
“Abstract art is truly objective and not ‘non-objective. The object which is created is real and not illusional in that it sets out to represent no object outside the canvas, but to contain within itself the force of its own nature and the painter seeks to be wholly intelligible in thus objectifying his subjective self….”
- Kenneth Martin
FIELDPLAY
The new work produced with the studio, collectively titled ‘Fieldplay’, is composed using individual bars of colour or tone. These bars are systematically arranged into different combinations within a grid structure.
Edgson describes the basis of the structure as being ‘developed in groups containing nine colours or tones constructed in nine vertical registers… [These] incorporate six vertical divisions, making fifty four 6 x 9 elements’. This framework forms the basis for ‘a construct of colour and rhythm.’
Concept: Colour: Construct.
“At the core of colour is a paradox. It is simultaneously one thing and several things – you can never see colour by itself, it is always affected by other colours.” - Bridget Riley
This exploration into structure was developed into two separate tonal studies, one colour and another made using 9 shades of grey.
“On the first day of working with Kip and Alan, I came across a quote in a studio copy of ‘An Intensive Detachment: Ellsworth Kelly’s Line; Form: Colour’ (1951) with a reference to the artist El Lissitzky in his ‘Of Two Squares’ (1920): -
‘Don’t read, Get paper, rods, blocks, Set them out, paint them, build’.
Thank you Kip and Alan for your collaboration in helping me to set things out, print them and continue to build, it’s been a constructive experience."
- Bob Edgson, Jan 2021
The two limited edition prints from ‘Fieldplay’ are now available to purchase from the studio. The price on each is £400 and for the pair is £750 (both inc VAT). See below and contact us for more details.
Date: 2021
Size (cm - unframed): 44.2 x 43.4
Technique: Screenprint on Somerset 300gsm
Edition size: 30