Free shipping
Michael Canney (1923-1999):
System with Circles no. 1, mid 1980's
Framed (ref: 2612)
Signed and titled on the reverse
Alkyd
14 x 14 in. (35.6 x 35.6 cm)See all works by Michael Canney alkyd Canney Abstract Art Highlights of 20/21 Art Fair TOP 100
Provenance: Madeline Canney, 2005
In a white gesso shadow box frame with museum glass.
Sytems
with circles and variations on squares - and occasionally stripes -
were Canney's signature pieces of the 1980's - arguably his most
productive decade.
'For a
number of years now my work has been broadly related to the
Constructivist tradition. However since 1979 it has relied upon a simple
principle, in which the work constructs itself from itself ... The
majority of the paintings and reliefs pay homage to the square, a format
selected initially in the interests of its non-associative properties,
its mathematical simplicity, and its formal neutrality. Division of the
square format is by fifths, quarters, thirds, halves and so on, all of
them proportions that are easily appreciated by the eye ... The
imposition of these limits comes as a reaction against an earlier
hedonistic period of improvisatory abstraction.' Michael Canney, Newlyn
Art Gallery catalogue, 1983, pp. 4-7.