Untitled (blue)

2010 - Painting (Painting)

12 x 9 in.

Chris Duncan


Taken from the title of the incredibly influential punk/hardcore record I AGAINST I by the Bad Brains, Untitled (blue) is an acrylic painting on reflective paper by Chris Duncan is part of a larger body of work titled EYE AGAINST I . This title references Duncan’s early artistic influences from the punk and hardcore music communities in tandem with his conceptual interest in perception and optics. This small painting features a glowing cluster of colorful dots on a bright blue background, also created from an accumulation of blue dots in varying tones. Referred to as pointillism, this is a technique used in early impressionist painting, developed by artists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in the 19th century. The technique relies on the ability of the eye and mind of the viewer to blend indidivual color spots into a cohesive, representational image. Building upon op-art, color theorist Josef Albers, and the craft movement of the early 70s, this work provides a platform for contemplation and questioning what is real. In flux between maximal and minimal, Duncan’s work is a constant balancing act between positive and negative, loud and quiet, solitary and participatory—dichotomies that provoke questions concerning perception, experience, and transcendence.


Chris Duncan employs repetition and accumulation as a basis for experiments in visual and sound-based media. Often instrumentalizing unconventional art making tools such as mirrors, string, light, and shadow, Duncan creates moments that at once challenge, overwhelm, and awe viewers. Time’s physical and psychological effects have become paramount in the artist’s experimental endeavors. Relying on the passing of time and long term effects of ultraviolet light exposure, the artist exposes manufactured colored fabrics to the sun so that imagery emerges on the fabrics without the use of any chemical processes. An homage to the power of the sun, these process-oriented works also blur the distinction between painting and photography. In consideration of society at large’s reliance on the immediacy of technology, the concept of time takes precedence in Duncan’s practice; his work is made by honoring the passing of time, not the acceleration of it.


Colors:



Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

Arts loom small in Ron DeSantis's proposed state budget
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Arts loom small in Ron DeSantis's proposed state budget Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Art Basel in Miami Beach news Arts loom small in Ron DeSantis's proposed state budget The Florida governor's proposed budget for the the next fiscal year includes some provisions for museums—and continuing to transport undocumented migrants to Democratic states Benjamin Sutton 8 December 2023 Share Florida governor Ron DeSantis Photo by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr Florida governor Ron DeSantis has had a busy Miami Art Week , participating in the fourth Republican presidential debate on Wednesday night and releasing his proposed state budget for 2024-25 on Tuesday...

Endless Forms Most Beautiful
© » LENS CULTURE

Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Photographs by Janelle Lynch | Essay by Joanna L...

Once in Two Moons
© » KADIST

Laura Rokas

2017

Like most of Laura Rokas’s hand-stitched works, Once in Two Moons was made while she sat in bed, imbuing the work with a tender sense of domestic intimacy...

José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros Returns With ‘Dramaholics’
© » HIGH FRUCTOSE

In the upcoming show "Dramaholics," Mexican painter José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros takes the taboos of reality and injects them into the idealized world of Disney...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

West (Flag 1) (Flag 3) (Flag 6)
© » KADIST

Alexandre da Cunha

2011

The series West (Flag 1), West (Flag 3), and West (Flag 6) continues da Cunha’s ongoing exploration of the form’s various vertical, horizontal, and diagonal stripes...

Man with Blue Tie
© » KADIST

James Weeks

1962

Both Head-Portrait with Red and Blue Background and Man with Blue Tie are classic examples of Weeks’ deftness of line, shape, and color...

Dancing Free I
© » KADIST

Jarrett Key

2020

Jarrett Key’s practice combines several modes of production into a single frame, incorporating sculpture, painting, and performance...

Too fragile to handle it without
© » KADIST

Tirdad Hashemi

2022

The Blue Poisoning series , reveals the outcome of artist Tirdad Hashemi’s weary and depressed days in the winter of 2022, following their second migration from Paris to Berlin...