Avis Newman "Vicious Circle"

'Can a uniform painting without any visible brushmarks or other linear forms be sensual? The question arises in connection with recent work by Avis Newman (London, 1946), and will be especially pertinent for those who recall the bodily associations aroused by the flowing lines and flesh tints of her earlier paintings; for this new work makes an initially cool impression, due to Newman's use of black, white and grey and the classic square shape. The answer lies in the work itself: in the detailing, in the choice of material and in the slow, careful method with which it has been applied. The edges of the canvas are rounded off , softening the transition between the painting and the wall. Light reflects gently in the surface lustre of those paintings that are silvery grey from countless layers of graphite. Other paintings, treated with black pigment, suck up every trace of light; there, sensuality is achieved by the mat, velvety texture which invites the touch. In contrast, the vitrines and display tables which are posted symmetrically in front the canvases appear as remarkably cool and impregnable. The vitrines hold pristine white books, standing or lying, and apparently containing no information apart from the numerals O to 9. These are not combined into numbers; the ten arabic numbers are proffered as a material, standing out in a Gill typeface, immaculate against the handmade paper. Are the books about knowledge and the paintings about sensation? In the love for detail with which the books have been made, it becomes palpable that even these abstract symbols of rational thought address the powers of perception and the sense of touch. At the same time, the numerals make the paintings into concrete experiences, so that the uniform surfaces operate not as a background to the vitrines but as materialization of something not imaginable, not knowable. As Edmond Jabes, often quoted by Newman, wrote: "The Nothing is also knowledge, being the reversal of All, as the air is the reverse of the wing".' (Invitation text by Saskia Bos) Catalogue: Avis Newman, De Appel & The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin & Lisson Gallery, London 1993. Text: John Hutchinson, Patricia Bickers. Dutch (edited by Edna van Duyn) & English (edited by Elisabeth McGrae). 40 Pages: 12 f.c., 1 b.w., 24 x 27 cm. Softcover. Design: Kate Stephens. ISBN 0 907660 45 2. SOLD OUT