Peter De Lorenzo
SUBliminal
May 17th – June 3, 2023
Liminal – adjective, defined as occupying a position at, or on both sides of a boundary or threshold; relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.
In these square pictures, surface is defined and then questioned through a strategy of repeated horizontal, parallel lines; space is organised by simple geometry- one of division by half, then half again, and so on; colour exists in between, on a continuum, or on both sides of a boundary.
As in previous work opposites are a significant part of the process:
tight – loose, colour – no colour; soft – hard; rough – smooth; transparent – opaque; advancing – receding; present – absent; repeating – inventing.
The process is one of definition, erasure, re-statement.
Seeking Naples Yellow:
From the beginning my work has involved an investigation of colour and it’s power to affect and direct perception. This work is also about finding a resonance, a tuning in the varied tones between Naples Yellow and Cerulean Blue. You can’t pin Naples Yellow down. It’s a range of colours. Similarly with Blue, it also exists on a continuum, it’s not greenish, it’s not purplish. As a result I make my own colours from pigments.
The pictures are minimal, transitional and yet something seems to leak out.
Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours* referred to Ochre Yellow, Sienna Yellow with a little light chestnut brown, Straw Yellow, Sulphur Yellow mixed with much greyish white and a little Ochre Yellow; Antimony Yellow**, colour ranging from a muted, or earthy, reddish yellow pigment, to a bright, yellow pigment.
Cerulean Blue is defined as existing between Azure and a darker Sky Blue, it is neither greenish nor purplish; Azure is the colour between Cyan and Blue on the spectrum of visible light.
*Werner’s Nomenclature of colours
with additions, arranged so as to render it highly useful to the Arts and Sciences
by Patrick Syme 1821; first pub 1814;
The book Charles Darwin used to describe colours in nature on his voyage on the HMS Beagle. **Wikipedia
Peter De Lorenzo 15 Apr 2023
