Seconds: Orange, Green Purple
Half a Dozen of the Other Exhibition
Manchester School of Art
Manchester UK 2007
Seconds traversed and destabilised the conventional boundaries between oil painting, spatial construction, and installation art. While it emerged prior to the development of my later theories concerning situation-specific installation, it nonetheless represents a pivotal transitional moment in which the pictorial field began to expand into architectural and phenomenological space.
At the time of its conception, I had been developing a series of works I then described as “spatial paintings,” and which I now term spatial-conceptions. These works retained the material conventions of oil painting, wooden stretchers, stretched canvas, primers, and oil pigment, yet fundamentally disrupted the primacy of the flat picture plane. In place of the rectilinear surface, the canvas was stretched, painted, and formed into curved, volumetric structures. Although materially aligned with painting, these objects operated spatially. In retrospect, their reception already approximated that of installation: the viewer was not positioned before a discrete image but was instead required to negotiate and, in certain instances, physically enter the three-dimensional field generated by the work. The pictorial encounter became embodied and durational rather than purely optical.
Half a Dozen of the Other Exhibition
Manchester School of Art
Manchester UK 2007
Seconds traversed and destabilised the conventional boundaries between oil painting, spatial construction, and installation art. While it emerged prior to the development of my later theories concerning situation-specific installation, it nonetheless represents a pivotal transitional moment in which the pictorial field began to expand into architectural and phenomenological space.
At the time of its conception, I had been developing a series of works I then described as “spatial paintings,” and which I now term spatial-conceptions. These works retained the material conventions of oil painting, wooden stretchers, stretched canvas, primers, and oil pigment, yet fundamentally disrupted the primacy of the flat picture plane. In place of the rectilinear surface, the canvas was stretched, painted, and formed into curved, volumetric structures. Although materially aligned with painting, these objects operated spatially. In retrospect, their reception already approximated that of installation: the viewer was not positioned before a discrete image but was instead required to negotiate and, in certain instances, physically enter the three-dimensional field generated by the work. The pictorial encounter became embodied and durational rather than purely optical.
A significant question emerging from these spatial-conceptions concerned the viewer’s approach. In order to enter the concave or enveloping interior spaces of these works, the viewer was first compelled to confront what might be considered their “reverse.” The structural armatures, supports, and skeletal frameworks, typically concealed in conventional painting, were necessarily exposed. While this revelation of structure was not in itself problematic, it introduced a theoretical tension. The act of encountering the work required an initial traversal of its utilitarian and material infrastructure, thereby foregrounding the mechanics of construction at the expense of perceptual immersion. This raised questions regarding orientation, presentation, and the degree to which structural transparency either enhanced or impeded experiential coherence.
In response, I began to experiment with the re-siting of these spatial-conceptions within purpose-built architectural environments. By designing and constructing bespoke rooms, I was able to integrate and conceal the structural supports within the walls themselves. This strategy did not deny materiality but rather subsumed it within a more comprehensive spatial orchestration. The work thus shifted from being an object placed within a gallery to a spatial condition embedded within an architectural framework.
In response, I began to experiment with the re-siting of these spatial-conceptions within purpose-built architectural environments. By designing and constructing bespoke rooms, I was able to integrate and conceal the structural supports within the walls themselves. This strategy did not deny materiality but rather subsumed it within a more comprehensive spatial orchestration. The work thus shifted from being an object placed within a gallery to a spatial condition embedded within an architectural framework.
Seconds emerged as the culmination of this exploration. Within this installation, spatial forms were no longer mounted upon walls; instead, they operated as interdependent voids and surfaces integrated into the fabric of the constructed environment. The component Orange receded from the viewer through its adjacency to a circular aperture, creating a spatial withdrawal that drew the eye inward. Green advanced outward from the juncture at which the three planes of the room converged, projecting from the corner into the viewer’s domain and destabilising the conventional neutrality of architectural boundaries. Purple, by contrast, invited physical entry through a doorway, enveloping the viewer within a painted interior and transforming colour into an immersive, environmental condition. In each instance, secondary colour operated not merely as chromatic designation but as spatial agent, structuring movement, perception, and relational dynamics.
In conclusion, Seconds, represents a formative moment in the evolution of my practice from object-based painting toward fully articulated installation. By interrogating the relationship between surface, structure, and site, the work foregrounded the experiential and architectural dimensions latent within painting. It initiated a sustained inquiry into how colour, form, and built space might converge to produce environments that are neither purely pictorial nor exclusively sculptural, but instead contingent, embodied, and situational. As such, Seconds can be understood not only as my first venture into installation, but as the conceptual groundwork upon which my later situation-specific installations were constructed.
In conclusion, Seconds, represents a formative moment in the evolution of my practice from object-based painting toward fully articulated installation. By interrogating the relationship between surface, structure, and site, the work foregrounded the experiential and architectural dimensions latent within painting. It initiated a sustained inquiry into how colour, form, and built space might converge to produce environments that are neither purely pictorial nor exclusively sculptural, but instead contingent, embodied, and situational. As such, Seconds can be understood not only as my first venture into installation, but as the conceptual groundwork upon which my later situation-specific installations were constructed.