Supported by the David Lean Foundation

Vanessa Jackson appears to take the most formal approach to painting, but her use of geometry and its three dimensional function deny the supposed flatness of modernist space. The title of this talk, ‘Curvature and Common Sense’ is an attempt to explore the contradiction of a fully realised space at once pertaining to logic and completeness and uncertainty and unease. The curvature is the deviant from the straight modernist line, whilst making sense in the studio is key to the understanding of representation.

The ornamental and optical play of colour acts to both confirm and confuse our sense of perception, constantly shifting between concrete presence and the ambiguity of space beyond our grasp.

Jackson destabilises the very ‘ground’ we most desire, a sense of security and belonging.