Rella Stuart-Hunt: New Paintings

Exhibition Dates: November 2, 2010 - November 27, 2010

Reception: Thursday, November 4, 6 - 8 PM

When Rella Stuart-Hunt read Ernst Mach's 'The Analysis of Sensations' in which he talked of parallel lines providing an illusion of wave-like curvatures and swellings, she thought about the early paintings of Bridget Riley, her fellow countrywoman. However, rather than focus on parallel lines creating an illusion as Riley had done, Stuart-Hunt in her most recent paintings - she has had two previous shows at The Painting Center - decided to simplify and refine what she had been exploring previously.

While her previous exhibits were inspired by her poetry, in this, her first one-person show in the main space of The Painting Center, Stuart-Hunt focuses on the purely visual for personal expression. She has chosen to explore the color effects of interrupted color shapes on either side of vertical divisions. Using a format that has been part of her work for several years, she has placed alternate gray arcs (or swellings) on either side of an implied vertical line, intending to subvert the simultaneous contrast that usually occurs. She has used grey extensively for its tendency to change easily in visual color qualities when seen in different contexts, an effect which occurs only in the eye-brain system of the viewer. She hopes that the patient viewer will be rewarded by extended and slower visual investigations of her paintings, creating a further sensory awareness of her expressive intent.