"I want my paintings to be: abstract, direct, urban, basic, modest, pure, simple, silent, honest, absolute" Alan Charlton
Alan Charlton paints monochrome grey paintings - which he has been doing since the early 1970s. Far from being monotone and unexciting Charlton's works concentrate on physicality, uniformity and method and they evoke a profound sense of the painting as a spatial entity.
This exhibition comprises ten new works demonstrating the effects of segmented canvases on a variety of scales. The works are divided into three groups: Outline Paintings, Boarder Paintings and Channel Paintings. They are united by the principal that each central canvas is bordered either by a painted line on the wall or by a further canvas or canvases. These works underpin Charlton's concern that the space inside and outside a painting are of equal importance. Accordingly he often makes his paintings specifically for the walls on which they are to be exhibited.
Charlton originally chose grey because of its ordinary quality but he rapidly recognised that the colour held special characteristics. Consequently the paintings are far more expressive than anticipated. Immaculate surfaces are interrupted by form and rhythm is generated by broken repetition. Charlton has been an inspiration for many contemporary artists and this show is testimony to his continually honest and enduring vision and integrity.
