Courting the Line

Commissioned by Sheffield Museums for Graves Gallery’s New Dialogues programme and gallery rehang supported by The Ampersand Foundation. 

In response to Sheffield Museum’s vast visual art collections, Courting the Line reinterprets the flat line into three-dimensional space, utilising light, shadow, and scale to disrupt the viewer’s perception of the gallery.

This exploration into sculptural installation takes inspiration from Bridget Riley’s seamless colour flow, Kenneth Martin’s illusion of depth through interwoven straps, and references the architectural juxtapositions of Mughal domes behind a weather-beaten Brighton pier, as seen in Edward Bawden’s work.

The patterned line-work unveils aspects of global influence in abstraction, situating it amongst a more expansive visual language with a longer timeline. It therefore challenges conventional narratives that suggest a Western mid-century birth of abstraction as an artistic expression.