Dan Walsh (B. 1960)

Executed with exquisite hand-painted precision, Dan Walsh’s Arrangement demonstrates the expert harnessing of optical effect that has come to define the artist’s internationally-exhibited oeuvre. Divided by a translucent grid of dark lines, Walsh’s chequered composition generates a profound spatial illusion in which the geometric patterning of the picture plane appears to advance and recede simultaneously. Seemingly backlit by warm bands of red and yellow, each square is vividly underscored with a vibrant blue strip. As we observe the work, its seemingly stable form appears to bend and quiver under our gaze, creating a profound structural reverberation that belies its solid framework.

Walsh’s works since the 1990s have explored the ‘theater of the perceptual act’ (D. Walsh, https://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/548 [accessed 6 January 2014]). Drawing on a basic repository of elemental forms – squares, rectangles, lines and grids – Walsh restructures the visual field in a way that reflects the contemporary experience of virtual reality whilst still retaining the aura of the artist’s hand. In this respect, Walsh’s works provide a unique take on the foundational principles of Minimalism.