About this artwork

This is one of Innes's Identified Forms paintings, a series begun in 1990. Although the gashes and trails look like random marks inflicted on the canvas, they were created by coaxing turpentine to run down in rivulets made with a fine brush. This removes paint from the dark base layer, exposing the bare canvas beneath. Innes wished to create the impression of 'discovering' pre-existing forms rather than simply creating marks on the canvas. Hovering in the dark, the ambiguous stains suggest something natural and elemental, a state between solid and void.

Updated before 2020

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  • artist:
    Callum Innes (born 1962) Scottish
  • title:
    Six Identified Forms
  • date created:
    1992
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    220.00 x 190.00 cm; Framed: 220.00 x 189.60 x 3.30 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased (Knapping Fund) 1993
  • accession number:
    GMA 3670
  • gallery:
  • subject:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Callum Innes

Callum Innes