MARTIN GRIFFITHS

From the previous phase emerged a desire to isolate the experience of light and darkness from all physical objects. Now the subject is the person before the work and the experience is intended to impact upon body rather than mind. With the support of an Arts Council England grant, works were fabricated in which contemporary processes achieved transitions of spectrum colours superimposed over grounds of 'absolute black' which absorbed 100% of light and created deep voided spaces. The opposition was intended to evoke experiences of pure abstract light. In these 2D works, lines of radiant colour appear to float forward in front of a mysteriously receding void, transforming into a haze of unintelligible light. Against the absolute finality of black, unstable colour becomes light; the optical opposition destroys the materiality of the work, defies sensations of touch. The last in this body of work was a triptych of three black grounds framed with white: this phase ended in absolute radiant darkness.

 

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