Cell Project Space

Born in New Zealand, artist Oliver Perkins universe is monochromatic. Colour has been reduced to a logical conclusion and as a result the canvas contains a sense of physicality. Furthermore it has become an object. Perkins manipulates his stretchers to heighten the tension of the object. The canvas, so taut, it reveals the wooden frame underneath contorting the predictable rectangular shape of the work itself. The façade is both an actual and a representational skin, in that its materiality speaks about the way the stretcher is made and how the canvas responds to it. Paint is used as a mark maker to indicate how the work is structurally held together. It emphasizes slight differentiations where the surface has been disrupted. The work becomes a series of reliefs revealing more an interest in materials and process rather than more linguistic or conceptual motivations.