[no title] 1991

Curator: Standing before us is a work by Alan Charlton, currently untitled. It's a study in monochrome grey. Editor: Stark. Austere. Like looking into a void, or perhaps a slate board before a lesson. Curator: Charlton's practice really challenges our notions of painting. The focus here is on the materiality of the pigment, its application, and the subtle variations within the grey. Editor: Grey is the color of the subconscious; what is being repressed, what is difficult to face. Curator: The scale and the deliberate lack of overt symbolism invite us to consider the physical experience of viewing, the labor and processes inherent in its creation. Editor: And yet, the square itself, a symbol of stability, hints at an underlying order, or perhaps an attempt to contain that very subconscious. Interesting.