Shape and Color Relations: Art by John Turner
John Turner creates mixed-media artworks with an emphasis on shape and color relations. Using novel, textural materials, John explores these relationships using three-dimensional geometric forms over thick planes of pigment.
RING #4, polyester ribbon, barbed wire, acrylic paint, sand, dried leaves, charcoal, string, canvas, oil paint, industrial insulation
I like the way the artist has pared down his style over the years, to create a current body of work that focuses on fairly specific shapes and background conventions. In particular, squares and circles appear often in the artists work. In some, like his recent series of Ring Paintings, the artist allows the shape of the circle to float to the front of the viewer’s vision while literally raising the shape off the surface of the work. This play with levels becomes even more pronounced in works where the brightly colored shape is sunken back behind a thick layer of dark black or grey substrate, such as in John’s Hay Paintings.
The front page of John's website
John’s work is quite reminiscent of the textural paintings of David Maxim. I’m looking forward to seeing what John has been up to lately in his practice.
TARGET, hay, acrylic paint, 150 hand painted polyester VFW Remembrance Poppies, 6 50 calibre holes