There’s something oddly satisfying about watching paint slowly drip down a canvas. It’s unexplainable, yet mesmerizing, to view the viscous pigment crawl its way to the flood, puddling in a colorful mess. English artist Ian Davenport plays with these concepts in his series Poured Lines and Puddle Painting.
Working with a surgeon’s precision, Davenport’s newest piece—Wide Acres of Time—sees him covering an aluminum panel with a sequence of more than 1,000 vertical lines of colorful soft body acrylic paint. This multicolored waterfall was created in collaboration with Swatch for the Venice Biennale. The mammoth piece, which measures 14 meters (about 46 feet) wide and almost 4 meters (13 feet) tall, measures up to the immensity of its surroundings in Venice’s Giardini pavilion.
Davenport, who is also an avid drummer, is interested in the musical rhythms and how they connect back to the rhythms found in art. Certainly, his soothing sequences of colorful lines possess a controlled, yet random, rhythm that draws viewers in, as they innately respond to the colors.
In an added challenge, Davenport was also asked to create a limited edition Swatch using his signature technique. Experimenting with a circular flow of paint pooling in the center of what would be the watch face, he skillfully married his contemporary abstract art with the functional timepiece. The limited edition Swatch is available in select stores in Venice and is limited to just 1,966 pieces.
Wide Acres of Time is artist Ian Davenport’s newest work in the series Puddle Painting, which sees him pouring acrylic paint down panels, letting it pool at the bottom.
The work—which has more than 1,000 colorful lines—is part of a collaboration with Swatch for the Venice Biennale.
Davenport is especially interested in seeing how people respond to color and his mesmerizing paint drip process.
The British artist explains his new work for the Venice Biennale and his collaboration with Swatch, which includes a limited edition watch modeled after his dripping paint technique.
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h/t: [Victory Plant Medicine Co.]
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