FRANCIS
PEDLEY
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About the ORIGINAL
PAINTINGS
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Size - 4 ft. x 6½ ft.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
This painting represents the apex of the artist's experiments in treatment of the "close" picture plane. The picture plane can be explained using the example of a window. If you imagine tracing an outline of the view you can see through that window, the window itself, would become a picture plane.
Traditionally artists have pushed the picture plane (or window) back to 10 or 15 feet (3 - 4.5 meters) resulting in about a 45 degree line of sight being captured. This facilitates rendering of a picture , as a closer view, causes excessive "foreshortening" and too wide an angle of view, tends to distort straight lines. This problems can be illustrated if you imagine looking in on a corridor or hallway, through a window in one of the side walls. You would find that although the parallel lines found at the point of convergence of the ceiling and floor...with the wall, were straight, you could not trace your right and left view of the corridor on the window without rendering them as curves on the glass. This phenomenon also explains why a camera mounted with a wide-angle lens causes a similar distortion. It is often thought that the problem lies in the optics of the lens material, but not so, space itself imposes this distortion.
The problem for artists is that pushing the picture frame back to a comfortable design distance reduces the immediacy with the subject. This has resulted in a traditional split between near and distant views, such as that found between "still life" and landscape design.
In "Fandango", the artist has advanced the picture plane to about 160 degrees, thereby drawing the viewer more directly into the picture. This was done however without the obvious distortions one would expect with such a close picture plane. The use of paving stones and the section of broken wall in the middle of the picture camouflage the distortions, while allowing the viewer to feel he is between the buildings.
Back to picture of "FANDANGO"
Size - 4 ft. x 6½ ft.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
The Cardplayer uses very strong colours with intense directional lighting. The compositional elements are based on peculiarities noted in Cezanne's work where he seemed compelled to imprison human figures in boxes. In the Cardplayer however several innovations use this "boxing " to focus the figure without imprisoning him.
The overhead beam, panel and doorway all frame him as do the shadows on the floor. All the shadows in the foreground point towards the central figure bringing the eye back to the centre. The door structure even has an arrow-like pattern pointing at the subject.
It was anticipated that the painting could end up hanging in a location where it would be seen from so close that the angle of view to the legs would cause foreshortening of the figure's legs. To compensate for this, the legs have been progressively elongated so that they will look proportional even from such a vantage point.
Size - 4 ft. x 6½ ft.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Illiad I" was the first of a series of abstract works inspired by the artist's curiosity about the nature of empty space. Figurative works such as "Surrealistic Landscape" and "Fandango" were taking increasingly longer to execute and so were becoming economically unfeasible to experiment with. Many of the elements left to be tested were more of a proportional and relational nature than pictorial, so an abstract format suited these needs well.
"Illiad I" is based on a Euclidean geometry, that is to say a flat-space geometry. The concept of a flat, undistortable space of course disappeared with the acceptance of Einstein's theory of relativity and had already been threatened by earlier mathematicians like Minkowski. The use of a chessboard as a coordinate system is used often in many of these works. "Illiad I" is quiet and reserved compared to later progressions of the theme. Even then the chessboard is starting to tilt and become dynamic. (for more information on this subject, see following..."Illiad II, The Acrobat, Is this the Beginning of Spring, etc...")
Back to picture of "ILLIAD I".
"ILLIAD II" Size - 4 ft. x 6½ ft.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Illiad II" was second of this series exploring the concepts of deformable spaces.
"Illiad II" is based on a curved-space geometry where the space is imagined to be like the inside of a tube-like structure that is unraveling.
It's often been said that "all art is abstraction". However, apart from subject matter, what differentiates Abstract art from other forms often seems a mystery. Here, the preferred distinction is based on use of the picture plane.
The "picture plane" in traditional painting has always been treated as a "window" behind which the picture happens...an illusion. Abstractionists on the other hand often claim a more self-righteous view...that they build from the picture plane towards the viewer without illusion. The arguments are of course academic, but the distinction is a profound truth. The picture plane is the foundation of all 2-dimensional art.
The "abstract" works in this section do not strictly adhere to the above criteria in that the pictures herein lie both on top of...and behind the picture plane. This liberty was important to the fulfillment of the objectives. (for more information on this subject, see previous and following... "Illiad I, The Acrobat, Is this the Beginning of Spring, etc...")
Size - 4 ft. x 6½ ft.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"The Acrobat" is third in a series exploring the concepts of deformable spaces.
It is also based on a curved-space geometry. The space is imagined to be like a rubber chess board floating on the ocean. It follows the waves and the pictorial structures are built within this concept. The image of an acrobat is superimposed on the undulating chess board and a ribbon acts as a compositional link unifying all the elements. (for more information on this subject, see previous and following... "Illiad I, Illiad II, Is this the Beginning of Spring, etc...")
Back to picture of "THE ACROBAT".
"IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF SPRING?" Size - 4 ft....... x 6½ ft......
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Is This the Beginning of Spring" is fourth in a series exploring the concepts of deformable spaces.
Designed as a spiral, funnel-shaped ribbon...the overall pattern of the subject is a "question mark". This...and because it could also be construed to look like a spring inspired Dave Dahlgren to name it "Is This the Beginning of Spring", a title that could never be improved. (for more information on this subject, see previous and following... "Illiad I, Illiad II, Is this the Beginning of Spring, etc...")
Size - 22 in. x 36 in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Sol" continues beyond the series exploring the concepts of deformable spaces. Although it and succeeding works are smaller, they explore interesting properties of spatial interactions...for example the gravitational field, hyperbolic and parabolic functions.
It and succeeding works are the first pieces completed after the artist's "Expanding Matrix" theory was formulated. "Sol" explores some of these elements esthetically.
Size - 11¼ in. x 18½in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Viking Dream" like many of the much smaller works in this series was created more for its pictorial content than as an experimental statement. It is a melding of a canoe-like craft with a "Viking ship".
Size - 113/4 in. x 18 in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Samurai" was one of several pieces intended to be abstract esthetic constructs based on Japanese simplicity. The title "Samurai" was only chosen after the piece was completed.
Size - 22 in. x 34¼ in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Monitor" continues in some unusual areas not yet explored with the concepts of deformable spaces.
One of the fascinations of the artist is with the esthetic principals based on the laws of the "Golden Section", or "Golden Mean" and the "Divine Proportion". The original impetus for the concept of "the classic" in ancient Greece, it was also the what the "rebirth" was of ... during the "Renaissance".
The fact that organic organisms from seashells to plants and mammals somehow obey these mathematical rules is amazing to contemplate.
"Monitor" uses the golden section principals combined with perspective parameters which follow a formula of one divided by distance. There is a flaw incorporated into the progression to show that the system seems to correct itself. There are enough possibilities embedded in these principals to keep any artist busy for a lifetime.
Size - 22 in. x 36 in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
"Time and the Interval" was one of ten painting shown in Paris at the International Centre of Contemporary Art in 1985.
Painted at a time when design elements of the "expanding matrix theory" was fresh, it represents a melding of the principals of gravitation with those of perspective...both qualities of empty space. The basis for this connection is one of the axioms of relativistic physics, that the spacetime is the gravitational field.
The spheres are split in two halves so that they seem to polarize. The effect is strange in that looking at the picture is usuallly uneventful until one relaxes and prepares to leave the work, then it seems to ripple.
Size - 22 in. x 36 in.
Medium - acrylic and mixed media on masonite
About the Work
A continuation of the theme of space and gravitation which is easily identified with bodies such as planets and moons. This is a coarser pictorial treatment of the subject and relies less on precise interrelations of size and distance.
Size - 22 in. x 36 in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
Like "Orbs in Transformation" above, this is a continuation of the theme of space and gravitation.
Size - 22 in. x 36 in.
Medium - acrylic on masonite
About the Work
Again, like "Orbs in Transformation" and "Submerged Moons" above, this work continues the theme of space and gravitation. Like "Sol" and "Time and the Interval" it is a bit more critical in its use of proportion and and distance relationships.
Back to picture of "BROKEN SYNTAX"
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