Todd Lambeth’s new series of acrylic paintings, titled Working Space, are concerned with the abstract relationship between space and colour. The strength of these paintings lies in the boldness of their colours and the contrast presented in areas of illusory depth and flatly applied paint. Influenced by hard-edged Modernist painting and the brightly graphic nature of Pop Art, the colours in these paintings reference the world of advertising and consumerism.
These paintings are initially designed as digital collages on a laptop, and are translated in the studio directly from the glowing screen of a tablet. To produce collages, Lambeth collects high-resolution images of 1980’s Hardcore, and Thrash Metal flyers from Internet sources. The central region and main contents of each flyer are removed to create irregular borders for combination and layering with carefully selected coloured grounds. The flyer cutouts contrast large areas of flat colour, accentuating the painted surface with subtle rendering of shadows and textures.
The abstract forms in these paintings are buoyed by hints of representation and illusory detail. It is these juxtapositions that allow Lambeth to create tension between image and abstraction. One may glimpse a series of cropped letterforms in one painting, and the subtle illusion of folds and textures in another. These trompe l’oeil elements, made up of horizontal and vertical strips, present grid-like structures that support the meandering abstract forms beneath them. Implementing formal principles such as scale and overlap, the spatial attributes of the work continually unfold.
Todd Lambeth’s painting practice explores optical perceptions of space. Emphasizing the formal properties of structure and design, the engaging paintings of Working Space present the viewer with a sense of visual pleasure and playful optimism. With their bright welcoming colours and forms, these paintings foreground ideas of beauty, and lull the viewer into a momentary lapse of meditative calm.