About the exhibition
Generator was my second exhibition at the Catto Gallery, and my first solo show there, after an initial two man outing with Bristol legend Derek Balmer, PPRWA. To my mind one of the great abstract painters of the C20th.
At the time I had become particularly interested in the idea of laser cutting the Diasec panels, in such a way that they would become more sculptural on the wall, almost as if they were wall mounted sculptures themselves, as opposed to the more trad approach of creating rectangular images in frames.
Initially I cut tondos, round works, and then quickly progressed to toroids in which the central core of the panel would be cut away. Radial / ONE was probably the first of these studies. By removing the central core, and therefore the traditional horizon line of the image, the viewer is forced to read the works in a completely different way, by moving the eye around the disc, which by their nature have no start or end point, and to some extent contain their geometry within a totally enclosed hermetic form. It was a revelation to me at the time, and continues to be of interest.
Work in situ
Process and progress, new drawing by Chuck Elliott
Foreword by Tim Green
In 1959 the British scientist and writer CP Snow gave a famous lecture entitled ‘The Two Cultures’ in which he reasoned that ‘the intellectual life of the whole of western society’ is divided into two discrete parts: science and the humanities.
He went on to despair at the schism, and argued that it actually holds back human progress. That lecture is still referred to today, probably because very little has been done to close that gap and the issue remains relevant. And what a shame, because when artists do show curiosity about science – and vice versa – new and thrilling ideas are born. Consider, for example, the mathematical rigour that underpins the musical poetry of a Philip Glass symphony.
This month at The Catto Gallery, you can see another fine example of the fusing of Snow’s ‘two cultures’. We’re pleased to welcome back, for the second time, the strange and wonderful work of Chuck Elliott.
In his arresting, digitally created images, Chuck – not unlike composer Glass – uses scientific ideas to generate lyrical visual poetry. Chuck’s images begin as rudimentary sketches and observations, of natural and geometric forms, which he finesses into kaleidoscopic adventures in line and colour.
He thinks deeply about the work, building each layer with tremendous deliberation (in this collection, Radial 3 was drafted 70 times, each study building from and elaborating on the preceeding version). And there is often a complex geometrical dimension to this decision-making: he’s interested in symmetry, asymmetry and the fundamental patterns of nature. For example, the Fibonacci number sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21 etc), which underpins everything from the structure of a pine cone to the shape of a breaking wave and the spiralling arm of a galaxy, drives the geometry in his ‘Collider’ series.
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Link here to read the full text ⟶
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Tim Green, December 2012
Link to exhibited works
