Castor is delighted to present Colin Crumplin: Paintings. This exhibition marks Crumplin’s first solo exhibition since 2005 and consists of works predominately made in the years proceeding.
Colin Crumplin was born 1946 in Hertfordshire and is now based between Bath and Wiltshire, UK. He has long been drawn to chance as the catalyst to his work stemming from an interest in French literature, in particular the Oulipo groups use of constraint as a means of expression. Crumplin has utilised an element of chance, multiple canvases or mirroring in one form or another for the past 50 years.
Since 1990’s Crumplin has been working with diptychs consisting of an abstract and representational canvas bolted together. On quick glance the two halves could be considered disparate, one painted with a bright, limited palette of smears and splodges, the other a photorealistic image. Upon a closer look we could consider the works as a sort of visual call and response, a gesture and a reaction. Whilst the style may differ they are in fact from the same author with only time and a different hand separating them. With this duel approach Crumplin is able to examine the conscious and subconscious in image making, embracing both wholly without adding weight to one over the other.
The abstract half, referred to as the ‘start’, is made by stapling raw canvas to the studio floor and wetting it. A small group of colours such as red, yellow, blue are poured directly on half the canvas and smeared quickly by hand to cover that section. The other half of the canvas is then folded onto the painted section and pressed down to produce a blind monoprint. Once dried these are documented, becoming part of the artist's index of potential starts.
Crumplin works with a small group of subjects, including fire, violence and flowers. Drawn to distinct and impactful images, often closely cropped in on the subject, the micro becoming macro. He collects images taken from newspaper cuttings, those provided by others or photographs he takes especially.
Through repeatedly looking and working with the photographic images over time, sometimes over decades, similarities start to appear to the abstract starts. Other times the start might lead by suggesting a subject such as an eye for which Crumplin photographed his own, or a burning building which he would sort through his archive to find one to pair. These photographs are then cropped, scaled, collaged and drawn up until the two work as a composition. These images are then meticulously painted in oil before the full painting is complete. Time is a vital yet unspoken material missing from the paintings description.
Staring long enough at the clouds or a starry nights sky can convince the brain of a recognisable form, turn away however and it gone. As with Pareidolia; seeing faces in things, when you know to look for something it’s easier to find. By pairing a recognisable image to the abstract start, Crumplin forever joins the two, forging an undeniable connection we may never have seen otherwise.
What becomes clear when viewing this exhibition is the breadth of history we see before us. Iconic images such as Evander Holyfield’s bitten ear may have remained dormant yet sits in the subconscious, whilst sadly many of the war zone images could be interchangeable from one conflict to the next. A stark reminding us of the flawed cyclical nature of humanities plight.
Even the flower paintings hold a state of uncertainty. Cropped in close and painted in large format, these exotic plants have a sense of foreboding. Designed by nature to attract, once viewed at human scale we experience them as they would be by other living things. These paintings draw us in with their beauty but like a siren we are unaware of the threat they may hold.
Through working with images filtered by photo editors we are exposed to a quarter of a century of history. In a world overloaded with fast imagery Crumplin’s work reminds us to slow down and consider the action and aftermath beyond the single image. Seduction, fear, tranquillity, curiosity and danger all coexist within these paintings, in doing so Crumplin subtly reflects on the complexity of our lives experience.