Brian Blanchflower

Woven Space. A personal view

Bob Brighton's paintings open up a particular kind of space, one in which streams of energy (colour) interweave in an endless play of revelation and occlusion. In this joyous interaction, colours flicker, jump and seem to dive under and over the canvas surface. The weave of the canvas itself becomes a micro-mirror of this horizontal/vertical motion.

In his monochromatic works, made from strips of canvas woven together, another aspect of this space is emphasised. Somehow, we are made more aware of the hidden segments beneath the strips - the NOTHING which is interwoven throughout the universe and hence our own consciousness.

Bob has referred to this phenomenon as infinite streams of potential 'big bangs' for it is absurd to him that we are being conditioned by certain scientists to believe in the origin of the universe as a singular 'big bang'. This is an extremely limited and religion-motivated concept which attempts to harness the imagination in such a way as to close-off infinity and thus prevent any true understanding of the present, with all it's multi-dimensional implications.

For someone whose life and work has been a plea for freedom of thought and experience, Bob Brighton's love and understanding of colour and how it can be structured in painting, have enabled him to gain profound insights into human feelings, whilst at the same time touch upon a complexity and immensity beyond our comprehension. Bob's art is in fact a 'colour universe' built up painstakingly over the years to form what has to be one of the finest achievements in painting today.

 

Brian Blanchflower
Bedfordale, Western Australia
July 2002