David Batchelor: 2D3D

Karsten Schubert is pleased to present 2D3D, the first exhibition of paintings by David Batchelor. The works, which grew out of an ongoing series of drawings, continue Batchelor’s exploration of colour, and reflect on the traditional roles of painting and sculpture.

Each brightly coloured and monochromatic work features an irregular oval form produced by pouring gloss paint onto aluminium composite board. Differences in shape, texture and size are achieved through the volume of paint applied, the angle of the board and the time left for the paint to dry. The resulting surface can be relatively smooth and flat or marked with wrinkles or irregular wave-like patterns. After the forms takes shape and the paint dries – a process that can take up to six months – Batchelor adds a schematic matt black ‘plinth’ to the base of each glossy ovoid.

Much of Batchelor’s work of the last two decades has occupied a space between painting and sculpture: while three-dimensional in form, they often refer to the history and condition of painting. These works continue to play with dimensionality: they are literally and optically flat but they allude to mass, weight, volume and mass. Each painting is a picture of a monochromatic and entirely fictional sculpture.