Jenny Reddin at BSG

You already know I'm a fan of the paint pourings of Jenny Reddin.  This latest exhibition shows that her work has moved into the realm of abstraction. They're large canvases, well suited to the airy upstairs space at the Brunswick Street Gallery... or if you're lucky, the big white wall of your living room.   They're perfectly curated, with plenty of space around each canvas for the images to speak out boldly.  

Left to right, Jenny, her daughter Sashi and her step son Tully.

I loved what Jenny said about her work,

 "If I have to label myself, I would say I am a contemporary artist.  I paint, but I don’t paint in a conventional way. I dissolve pigments in various solvents and then pour them onto surfaces that have been prepared to create texture, not for the sake of the texture itself but because it lends me highs and lows, brights and darks and changes in surface which I find endlessly interesting.  

Sam Leach states that his work draws on imagery, technique and structure of paintings which were made during the 17th century and beyond.  Tim Macguire takes sections out of Dutch masters paintings and explodes them into cinematic scale.  My work borrows elements from historical paintings and magnifies them 100 fold to lend me the crevices and crannies that could hold entire civilisations.  
I am interested in the alchemy of painting.  When I pour my dissolved pigments each has a different specific gravity and falls out of solution at different rates.  Those that are heavier fall out quickly to form the base layer whilst those that stay in solution longer damage the base and leave tracks and traces that are reminiscent of marks achieved in etchings or the cracks of age in an ancient oil painting. My process is about creating beautiful surfaces that could exist somewhere in an old world masterpiece, and then damaging them to reveal layers underneath.  I am looking for marks that can’t be made using paint brush and traditional methods."  Artist's Statement for "Naturally Occurring" Brunswick Street Gallery, February 17th - March 1st.

I'm currently obssessed with fractals and wonder if fractals are present in these images.  Perhaps the title of the exhibition, "Naturally Occurring" is a clue.  The apparently random, chaotic work of Jackson Pollock has been connected to the idea of fractals and I wonder if Jenny's work (her pouring technique differs markedly from the dripping technique of Pollock) could be similarly related?  I'd be particularly interested to hear from any scientists out there who might like to test my theory?

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

If you're in Brunswick Street, before 1st March, pop in to see this work for yourself.  The Brunswick Street Gallery is at 322 Brunswick Street, Brunswick, Victoria.  

Jenny is a participant in the Yarra Valley Open Studios Program.

All work in this post is Jenny Reddin©