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Isabel-Abrecht-Blaue-Serie-Colour-Progression
Isabel-Abrecht-Grey-Serie-Colour-Progression

Patrick Heide Contemporary Art is pleased to present “Colour Progression”, a selection of new paintings and drawings by German artist and RCA graduate Isabel Albrecht.

In her second solo exhibition with the gallery Albrecht expands her systematic approach to the painting and drawing process into the field of colour and will execute three large line wall drawings especially for the space.

Similar to her earlier work, all compositions in “Colour Progression” derive from pre-determined systems and self-imposed regulations carried out without knowing or even expecting a certain pictorial outcome. These systems become flawed and compositionally counterbalanced, ultimately due to the impossibility of the human hand and mind to be perfectly consistent. 

In her new paintings Albrecht identically repeats light and dark sequences of one colour or a succession of coloured lines.

Albrecht calls her new series of work “progression paintings”, deriving from the German word “Verlauf” which in its original meaning is the physical blending of materials and colours as well as the passing of time. Both aspects are vital in Albrecht’s new series, first of all for their painstaking and time-consuming technique but even more for their final compositions, which visually often result in colour fields blending or fading. The series Paynes Grey for example result in coded colour schemes shifting slightly from row to row and strongly evoke intentional optical illusions. The blue & grey series look somewhat computer generated for their partly rhythmic, partly toned repetitive application of lines. Yet all imagery derives from colour systems applied executed in manual labour, visually most obvious in the uncountable parallel horizontal pencil lines patiently applied with the aid of three different rulers directly to the wall. All inherent flaws are consequently continued, caused by minute differences in the thickness or density of the painted or pencilled lines or by breaks in the established order at times through mere lack of attention. The pictorial effects are mesmerising, yet incalculable in spite of their firm origin in logical calculation. “Colour Progression” reveals a visual language reminiscent of minimal concepts but is more varied, dynamic and vibrant, much like a colourful visualisation of scientific research.

The works exhibited in “Colour Progession” generally place Isabel Albrecht’s work in between the conflicting fields of math and psychology, of system and chance and of method and the human inability to be rigorously methodical. “Colour Progression” examines the tension between the formal and the accidental approach to a creative process. Albrecht’s daring compositions question the human aspect in conceptual art and investigate the visual value of a subjective, rather subconscious way of art making.

Isabel Albrecht studied Drawing at Camberwell College of Art from 1998 to 2002 and did her Master at the Royal College of Art from 2002 to 2004. She has exhibited internationally and is part of numerous private collections in the EU and the US. Albrecht lives and works in Frankfurt.

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