Ian Pearson
Harbour variation #1
100×100cm oil on canvas
Ian Pearson
Intuitive Variation
11 June – 6 July 2022
For many years, Ian Pearson taught colour theory in a range of educational environments. His awareness of colour mixing is deep and unique. Kandinsky was interested in the colour of sound. Pearson seems to be interested in the sound of colour. Colour in these paintings has a distinctly musical quality. It’s a music that visualises a place for contemplation, a place to relax away from the bombardment of imagery from mass media. The paint in these works is controlled and vigorous. The oil surfaces are quite physical, a knifed impasto. These are robust pictures yet all paintings surrounded by a clean white edge making them visually crisp like a print.
Pearson’s paintings are musical, clever and delightful. Many of them are private conversations between the artist and art history, conversations that are respectful but also light and humorous. Pearson has always had a fondness for the art of David Hockney and his post- pop style that is clean and kinetic. Hockney said in relation to the older artist…”When you are older, you realise that everything else is just nothing compared to painting and drawing.”
Steven Giese
