Patrick O’Donnell, ‘Losing You’

Patrick O’Donnell, ‘Homage to Albers’

A collection of ink works stem from the artist’s interest in astronomical imagery in which temperature and chemical composition of bodies such as comets are denoted by specific hues radiating out from a white hot centre. O’Donnell explores the process of ‘subtractive colour’ to evoke a visual sensation of ‘retreating light’. He paints onto a white paper ground, using masking fluid and increasingly concentrated washes of ink to build up the images. Colours are created by subtracting (absorbing) parts of the spectrum therefore eliminating the visible white light of the paper beneath.

The paintings are developed along a similar concept of ‘retreating light’, this time starting with a black canvas and building up a surface of colour and luminosity by layering films of paint over the black ground. Originally inspired by images of reflected light transmitted from the New Horizons space probe of Pluto, the works on show here are O’Donnell’s response to our own lunar satellite, the moon. Working within a simple composition of a circle within a square, he experiments with painterly techniques that echo the terrain of this planetary body.

www.patrick-odonnell.co.uk