I started using aluminium as a way of carrying colour on surfaces which I was folding to create sculptures in the round. Over time, a process of simplification and reduction to what seemed essential resolved these into flatter wall based works which, although imitating paintings, I still think of as three dimensional objects.

Colours are physically separated from each other by their application to the individual segments that make up each work so that they are built-together rather than painted on. For each work I try out many combinations of colour, sheen and paint texture ranging from flat sprayed surfaces of a single colour to surfaces built up of many impasto layers using brushwork to describe the form of each segment. My aim is to find a point where the paint surface does not contradict the relief surface created by the folded or raised elements, and works with the real passages of light and shade created by them.

Underlying these formal concerns is a process of observation from nature with many works finding their origin in things such as sportswear, vehicle livery, health and safety products, shop frontages, web pages, the conventions of heraldic design, and outdoor equipment.

This edition of ‘Samples’* includes an LED sculpture — another example of my many investigations into the functionality of different materials and their combination.

John Wallbank

*Previous edition: John Wallbank ‘Samples’ Arcade | London, 20.11 – 20.12. 19