Paintings by
Tony Rothon

11th November - 2nd December 2003

Private Views took place on:
Tuesday November 11, 6.30 - 8.30
Thursday November 13, 6.30 - 8.30
Sunday November 16, 12.00 - 3.00

Viewing was by appointment at other times

It is always difficult to know how to touch the canvas with a brush, especially when covering the larger areas. It's a problem which gestural painters don't have, and neither do the heavy-handed. I am interested in a touch which compels the spectator to look closely at the surface of the painting.

The character of the surface is altered, sometimes drastically, in the endeavour to push paint out to the limits of the picture. The most urgent activity seems to occur where drawing and painting coincide, as at the edge of a form. Thinking in tone makes things easier. A darkening or lightening ensures that a dark shape doesn't become a hole and that the flat plane is maintained no matter how strong is the tendency of form to play an illusionistic trick.