John Nixon
EPW: Poly­chrome Applied Painting

Paint­ing in the Expand­ed Field

Whilst the EPW: Poly­chrome project con­tin­ues – and con­tin­ues to be defined by colour stripe paint­ings — this exhi­bi­tion focus­es on the side projects and under the ban­ner of Applied Paint­ing, var­i­ous pos­si­bil­i­ties for paint­ing have been explored. Pre­sent­ed here are projects for: the­atre sets, a cur­tain for an opera house, wall-paint­ing designs and Colour-Rhythm Disks.

The EPW: Poly­chrome group of works began in 2006 and a large exhi­bi­tion of var­i­ous Colour-Rhythm striped paint­ings was held at the Tar­raWar­ra Muse­um of Art in Healesville in March-May 2007. Includ­ed were ear­ly exam­ples of the Applied Paint­ings – Colour Music Com­po­si­tions and Colour-Rhythm Disks. Since that exhi­bi­tion, this line of research has con­tin­ued in a num­ber of groups of paint­ings Colour-Groups A –E), each with their own colour sys­tem. These cul­mi­nate in Colour-Group E (Ran­dom), paint­ings that incor­po­rate nine colours includ­ing three pri­ma­ry and three sec­ondary colours, black, white and sil­ver uti­lized in ran­dom order.

Dur­ing this time, new Applied Paint­ing projects have also been devel­oped whilst oth­ers
already begun have been con­tin­ued. Whilst pre­sent­ed as paint­ings of inter­est in their own right, the Applied Paint­ings also imply func­tion as art out­side the bound­aries of pure paint­ing and in this way offer mod­els for use and engage­ment with oth­er arts dis­ci­plines. For exam­ple, the designs for the­atre sets, wall-paint­ings and stage cur­tain are for projects that are mas­sive in scale; the Colour Rhythm Disks take the form of paint­ed records to be seen spinning.

Part of the ongo­ing Exper­i­men­tal Paint­ing Work­shop, the Applied Paint­ings con­cep­tu­al­ly expand the realm of abstract paint­ing into wider spheres of activ­i­ty and endeavour.

John Nixon, March 2009