Donald Andrus

The ongoing series of paintings titled FIELD, is one in which the qualifying animus is based, in part, upon the patterns and rhythms of the images within each painting and, in part, upon the personality of the materials and processes involved in the making of the work. The open-ended mobility of the patterning created through the repetition of minute touches of colour acting within the cloud-like grounds, together with a highly reflective surface, all aspire to create a constant shift, a kind of essentialist kinesis.

“In these works the small marks painstakingly applied with gel pen float over the ground. This is accomplished by sandwiching the marks between two layers of clear resin. The effect is both mysterious and uncanny; the small marks, deliberately applied seem to spell out a Morse Code. They flow rhythmically over the painting, folding, turning and transforming…. The mixing of traditional and unconventional materials and techniques reflects Andrus’ questioning of the historical inevitability of the modernist/formalist develoment of abstraction.” (Jon Tupper, Director of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria)