Loading exhibition
Sep 10 – Oct 22, 2011
Michael Batty - "Drawn"Newzones is please to present a solo exhibition of new gouache paintings by Michael Batty. Michael Batty's new series, "Drawn" is calligraphic in nature; each painting activates the silence of the blank sheet of paper with exacting strokes of colour. These markings utilize intuitive colour combinations and free flowing composition. While each coloured stroke has its own unique tone, the groupings work together to achieve a complex interplay of harmony and discord within the composition of the painting. Batty states, "As a comment on expression itself, the strokes represent the beauty generated by an accumulation of simplicity". Batty likens his practice for this series of paintings to the delivery of meaning in language: "Language is not reducible to the meanings of the individual words spoken. Words are ingredients; expression comes as words are used, as they connect via the relationship they bear to one another." Batty works to address the relationships that arise from the orchestrated groupings: harmony, discord, stasis, change, silence and sound. The whole is a function of seemingly simple elements, yet when put together are remarkably intricate. Each composition is connected to the visual space in which it exists via unifying pictorial space through patterns of singular gestures. Michael Batty graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver in 1989 with a major in painting. Since then, he has attended the renowned artist workshops in Emma Lake, Saskatchewan, and studied printmaking at The Art Institute at Capilano College in Vancouver. Opening Reception: Saturday September 17, 1-4 pm. Michael Batty in attendance. Exhibition runs from Saturday, September 10, to Saturday, October 22, 2011.
