Introduction

Ian Woo is a painter working in the language of abstraction. Influenced by forms of modernism, perceptual abstraction and the sound structures of music improvisation, his work is characterised by a sense of gravitational and representational change. He often uses the term ‘picture making’ when describing his position and approach, maintaining the discipline and evolvement of painting as a vehicle for pictorial reflexivity.

Concept

I have a history of falling off from chairs. Recently, while making a work, I fell off a plastic stool and decided to name this exhibition after the incident. Stuff like that happens but this time it actually began to feel good — like a victory chant.
– Ian Woo

Falling Off Plastic Chairs presents Woo’s most recent work, as he continues to explore the possibilities of alternating spatial relationships within the pictorial plane. At first glance, the viewer is confronted by a variety of forms, differing in quality of the marks yet seemingly harmonious in its overall colour palette. There is stillness in each frame and, at the same time, speed in each brush stroke. The layering is intense, suggesting a transient moiré, and the viewer, rewarded, with each extended reading. Through his process of working the painting to resolution, Woo guides the viewer to construct relations and connections between the paint marks on the surface of the canvas. One tries to grasp hold of each painting’s unique gravitational force and sense of time, and in attempt to recognise the traces and sensations presented, assigns memory’s meaning to his/her reading. Each painting has its own structural make up and to understand it one has to probe further into its codification. Misunderstandings, while inevitable, become part of the open-ended viewing experience.