Slab City

By Barry Hammond

Mixed media on canvas

60 cm x 60 cm x 2 cm

Price on request

Meaning and visual impact:

This work has a sculpted background of what seems like a slab of thin stone. Over the slab of stone like material are various shades of soft, natural autumn like colours that blend into each other and form interesting interactions. Really looks great in subdued interior design settings. It pops against white walls and compliments natural tone or stone walls. Under gallery lights it comes alive and is non-reflective of bright direct lights. The 2 cm canvas sides are painted an off white colour.

Technical aspects:

The primed canvas was first sculpted with my proprietary concoction of gel that hardens into a rock like substance and permanently glues itself to the canvas. The very hard dried material is then sanded down. The sculptor`s knife created the channels and valleys in the drying material. Further trowels of material then covered over some of the grooves and were then sanded flat. After all the sculpting and machining work was done then many thin layers of oil colour were applied for the final effect. No glaze medium was used on the work so the overall finish is flat. Despite the stone like image the canvas is actually quite light and can easily be hung anywhere.

For this art work it is kind of funny to discuss the nuances of fine art painting when you are actually using an industrial grade belt sander.