New artist Nan Collantine’s sense of play
‘Civilisation can’t exist without a sense of play’: Nan Collantine’s works resonate with this beguiling statement by renowned anthropologist Claud Levi-Strauss. The lyrical fabric of her works is made up of rhythmic elements: containment, layer, overlap. Soft squares of colour chime. A take on the abstract tradition instigated by Piet Mondrian. They evoke a plural vision: as if there are many windows, many openings. Looking at her works gives the sense of being offered a way through.
The works tend to have a formal title, accompanied by a second title in brackets that is subjective and more lighthearted. Nan describes her work as ‘a story of process’. The process of harnessing and soothing a bustling multitude of colours and shapes. The initial title refers to the ocean: the origin of story-telling and the epitome of harmony and strife. The abstract elements that make up the painting could be like an archipelago, unified by the sea that surrounds them: ‘After a long time lost at sea I find my island’ the painter says of her process.
Oceans Apart No.20 by Nan Collantine
Oceans Apart No.22 by Nan Collantine
Oceans Apart No.25 (ooh la la) by Nan Collantine
Oceans Apart No.21 by Nan Collantine
Oceans Apart No 24 by Nan Collantine
Nan Collantine
