Trevor Sutton makes art that embodies the restraints of a ritualistic and pragmatic process with that of pure sensual pleasure. The atmospheric references to landscape visible in much of his work of the last ten years have been superseded by a significant withdrawal to a less referential non-figurative position. Where formerly his colour-saturated paintings have offered the viewer remote spaces in which to place their own imaginings, the re-emergence of the grid now takes precedence. This recent compositional shift marks the introduction of a new modus operandi.
Sutton introduces collaged elements that require him to prepare painted paper surfaces that are then cut into grid sections before being reassembled and glued onto a partially painted surface. These painted, brick-like sections often have a transparency akin to watercolour and Sutton uses the vertical or horizontal emphasis of his brushwork to introduce a woven quality to the grid. This work has a hands-on feel: it still has a visible history of colour and gesture but its’ physicality and painterly flaws are tempered by the restraining hierarchy of the grid.
This year his new collage paintings have been exhibited in Tokyo and Hiroshima: in London he has exhibited in Material Lightness, a curated exhibition of eight non-figurative artists and launched a box edition of etchings Magic Carpet Ride published by The Cold Press, Norfolk. In September he has work in the forthcoming group exhibition Black + White at Galleri Weinberger in Copenhagen and is currently working towards a major exhibition linking four decades of work, to be shown at Flowers Cork St in October this year.
Trevor Sutton CV