In Three Tone Compositions, Matthew Allen continues his longstanding investigation into colour, surface and the physical presence of paint.
Each work is structured as a simple four-part composition, reducing the image to a set of closely calibrated tonal relationships. Across these repeated divisions, small shifts in colour, density and finish become increasingly pronounced. What initially appears restrained and almost architectural begins to reveal something far less fixed: colour changes with the light, surfaces deepen and flatten, and the polished graphite moves between opacity and reflection.
Allen’s paintings are built through repeated applications, glazing, polishing and reduction, allowing the surface to accumulate depth while resisting obvious gesture. His practice is less concerned with image-making than with atmosphere — with the way a painting can hold light, alter in relation to the room around it, and slowly disclose itself through looking.
The three works sit somewhere between painting and object. Their depth, modular construction and highly worked surfaces give them an almost sculptural presence, while their restraint places the emphasis firmly on colour itself: spatial, physical and quietly unstable.
Each work is structured as a simple four-part composition, reducing the image to a set of closely calibrated tonal relationships. Across these repeated divisions, small shifts in colour, density and finish become increasingly pronounced. What initially appears restrained and almost architectural begins to reveal something far less fixed: colour changes with the light, surfaces deepen and flatten, and the polished graphite moves between opacity and reflection.
Allen’s paintings are built through repeated applications, glazing, polishing and reduction, allowing the surface to accumulate depth while resisting obvious gesture. His practice is less concerned with image-making than with atmosphere — with the way a painting can hold light, alter in relation to the room around it, and slowly disclose itself through looking.
The three works sit somewhere between painting and object. Their depth, modular construction and highly worked surfaces give them an almost sculptural presence, while their restraint places the emphasis firmly on colour itself: spatial, physical and quietly unstable.
