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ABSTRACT LINES226

Compositions

ABSTRACT DRAWINGS ARE LARGELY or entirely free from using the viewer's eye to track and unfold layers of meaning.
figurative representation—that is, free from the direct imaging Catling's torn paper shapes and shadows spill light out of their
of known physical things. Their energy can therefore be frame like a fractured mirror. Oval moons eclipse each other
a purer expression of an idea or emotion. and oscillate between landforms and portraiture; rocks or
heads in a subdued atmosphere of dream. Klee's mathematical
These two works present complex compositions with maze of thinly washed surface resonates with meticulous
differing intensions and methods of making, but similarities planning. With no depth of field, it is ruled and contained
in mood, structure, and choice of hues. They each find their in one dimension by its interlocking ink-lined borders.
pathways and equilibrium in atmosphere and suggestion,

BRIAN CATLING Mixed media This is a collage of torn white and gray tissue Untitled 2001
British sculptor poet, performance and installation paper previously stained with ink; gold paint and iridescent
artist, filmmaker Professor of Fine Art, Ruskin School, gouache mixed with water; and water-resistant layers of 2001
and Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. Catling's works spray and enamel paint on thick paper. Catling's abstract
made for international galleries and museums involve drawings are usually made in series and in parallel to written 153/4x 215/8 in ( 4 0 0 x 550 mm)
drawing as a tool in their development and making. poetry and sculptural installations.
BRIAN CATLING