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EMPTY BEACH WITH TANKER 1995 "Empty Beach with Tanker 1995, is one of Alan Robb's most finely poised images and perhaps the most complete statement in his recent work. Only the tanker and the landscape model are depicted, one above the other. Each casts a shadow on the flat background plane. The understated colour, tonalities and linear precision sustain a beautifully-modulated harmony of form and presence with great economy. The ideational character of the image is made clear. There is no closure of meaning in this painting because both images are allowed to go beyond conscious intention. They are not symbols and their relationship is not limited to any matter of fact correspondences. The viewer is engaged by their illusory objectivity, the deceptive quidity of the presences which they manifest. In this light, the other paintings in the series can also be seen to embody the free pleasure of the imagination at play as much as they are investigations of the intangible essences of painterly representation." Euan McArthur 1996 |
oil on linen 56" x 60" 156 x 140cms |