Aston Williams explores both figuration and abstraction in his work. Historical found images and machismo gestural markings are seemingly refracted and rendered ambiguous through implied diamond shaped lenses. The textual paintings portray crystals cut not of precious stone but of thick layers of paint. They invite the viewer to question their own way of seeing by simultaneously forming an illusion of depth and an opaque assembled surface – three dimensions vs. flat-sutured skin.
The title of the exhibition is intended to describe space and action untouched by culture; nature and human nature. While the paintings do not offer up images of primeval wilderness or behaviour the reductive and anti-hierarchical application of collage into the production of the works is a step away from the built environment and traditional additive mark making and backwards to these raw states of place and being.
Salerno Gallery
8 to 25 August, 2013
Sydney
Between crystal and smoke, 2013, acrylic on polyester, 151 x 111cm
Courtesy the artist
