This book was published in 2000 by the Contemporary Art Gallery, on the occasion of the exhibition *Visual Stimulants* at the Contemporary Art Gallery, September 9 to October 21, 2000. The exhibition presented work by three artists; Angela Leach, Ken Singer and Jeremy Stanbridge. The publication contains a text by curator Keith Wallace.


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Visual Stimulants

Ken Singer

Jeremy Stanbridge

Angela Leach

Leach, Singer and Stanbridge are among a young generation of artists whose artwork directly or indirectly alludes to historical forms of abstraction — in this case modernist painting from the 1960s. Although the art from that period stressed the formal properties of colour and support, and avoided all references to representation or narrative, the artists in *Visual Stimulants* in large part question the autonomy of abstract painting and return it to the realm of the everyday.

Angela Leach's vibrant and visually demanding paintings appear aligned with the dizzying effects of Op Art, but the intricate interlocking patterns and colour range also reflect her day job as a weaver on a handloom producing fabric. Ken Singer produces work that initially reads as an aesthetic meditation on the modulation of colour, but the densely covered surface pattern is revealed as lines of repeated words that insert narrative content where it is not expected. Jeremy Stanbridge makes visually complex paintings that offer a play between positive and negative space, and which prompt associations as varied as landscape, microscopic cells, camouflage, animation, and wallpaper.

Defying the mass produced and manufactured quality of much contemporary art, and the quick assimilation of information in contemporary mass media, these works are all the product of a labour intensive hand-crafted process. This investment of time is an important component in both the making of the work and in its reception by the viewer, who is encouraged to slow down their apprehension of the work. By allowing the visual to be a pleasurable and complex encounter, and by making the work something it is not, Leach, Singer and Stanbridge create an experience of both contemplation and perplexity.

Essay: "Visual Stimulants," Keith Wallace

Detail of an artwork. The work is made with various textiles woven together, or placed next to each other, to create a repetition of small squares. The colours of textiles used in this work are gold, silver, blue and orange. 

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Seven abstract paintings of various sizes are installed on the gallery walls. The entire canvases are filled with colours, shapes, and patterns. There are two similar paintings in different colors.  

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Four abstract paintings of various sizes are installed on the gallery walls. Two of them are painted in a brown colour scheme. Two paintings in the middle share a similar pink  color.

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A large optical painting is installed on the gallery wall. Various coloured squares are painted in a specific way that gives viewers an illusion that the surface of the canvas is wavy and unleveled. 

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A large-sized abstract painting is installed on the gallery wall. The painting has a gold leopard-pattern on a white background. Contours of all gold figures are shadowed by purple thin lines. 

Visual Stimulants

Related Exhibitions