Absence is its own thing

Absence is memory of a thing's presence. In John Brown's paintings over the past few years the process of scraping and systematic removal of paint is a form of making imagery.

I'm thinking about injuries and healing as a process that reveals a new form. Bones and tissues are different after an injury. Some parts are never replaced and there are physical gaps.

I was feeling accustomed to the "resultant" dis-appearance of the paintings when I noticed, by contrast, his more recent work supports a build-up of painterly forms, painterly staccatos, flat black angled forms like stealth bombers, industrial bunkers, or Ned Kelly's armor; forms conceived as invisible, as negations.

Along with the black forms are flare-red islands, some appearing consructed and some topographic, with a ferrous mineral quality. The colours and forms indicate an industrial landscape not devoid of a human presence - but an extension of human activity and physicality.

Redredblack, oil on wood, John Brown, 2008.