“In calling this body of work The Modernist, I am recognising the long pathway I have walked as a painter to get here. All the events that have been important in my life have been filtering in and out of making these works.

The conversation I have with the painting in this process has led me through dark times towards light and beauty. Change has been gradual and uncertain but also in some ways fulfilling. I adopted a new process of paring back or cutting out whilst making these works, this led to a re-use of paint. In the work the River Bank I used large pieces of dried paint from the palette.

My desire to find peace or utopia is present, together with blank space, uncontrolled energy, nostalgia, destruction, and renewal.”

Colin Pennock