Sirènes des rois 1988

Jean-Paul Jerome made this image out of shades of blue on black. I can imagine how he must have mixed each colour separately, one at a time, as he filled in each shape, moving from dark to light and back again. And then these blues, how they play together. There's something so lovely about the way they contrast with the flatness of the black background. Like a sea at night with the moonlight catching the surface of the water, it has a deepness and a coolness that surrounds you. You can see Jerome's thinking about the interplay of geometry and tone in the way the circle hovers between two planes. To me, there is a real sense of play in the careful consideration of shape and composition, a constant conversation between the parts. He has made a site of inquiry for himself and for us to look at. A kind of meditation on colour. It reminds me of Bridget Riley's op art experiments. All of these artists riffing off each other, and inventing new ideas and ways of seeing along the way.