Start
Signed Print

Start is composed of sweeping, serpentine shapes in three vibrant colours, as well as white and a light grey tone: a chromatic intermediary between white and black. The interlocking forms are redolent of movement or the undulations of the natural world. Although consistently abstract, Riley’s works remain grounded in natural experiences, predominantly from her adolescence spent in Cornwall. Riley confesses that the ever-changing Cornish seas and skies stimulated her vision, the sensations of which she seeks to recreate in non-representational painting.

Riley regards colour as capable of eliciting emotional responses in the observer. Hence, the artist revels in exploring the visual and emotional effects of certain colour combinations, and Start is no exception. Moreover, colour is declaratively interactive within Riley’s work: each hue appears to change in pitch and tone depending on its neighbours. Far removed from Riley’s monochromatic origins in the 1960s, Riley’s Lozenges series sees the abstract artist at her most confident with colour.