Tom Henderson: Corners

Tom Henderson

Hovering before the wall, these translucent angular objects are beautifully complex abstractions that offer a glimpse of the environment that lies just beyond the limit of the work itself. -

Henderson’s art works reveal an artist who is at home exploring the delineations between traditional sculpture and painting, with a refreshing and dynamic new approach. The modern materials that he uses sit parallel, but away from the wall and allow light to pass in varying degrees. This creates numerous planes and borders that permit the viewer to explore differing reactions of natural light and colour within each piece. Like a painter, Henderson has developed an understanding of light, shadow and tonality, but his pieces are far removed from conventional painting.

As if floating on the gallery walls, his works are composed of coloured Plexiglas panels, each supported by an aluminum armature which projects through the picture plane. This structural element replaces the traditional frame as well as being the means by which the object is attached to the wall. This ‘corner’ prompts every decision regarding scale, proportion and colour, often resulting in complex shapes that turn their own corners, breaking free from the homogeny of the rectangular frames of old.

In addition, Henderson applies areas of monochrome paint, beginning with a Mondrian-like crispness on one or two sides but ending with a delicate, feathered blurring of the other – an exquisite contrast of painterly sensuality and the rigid angularity that informs and dominates the composition. Likewise the conventional relationships between painting, frame and wall are distorted as ‘corners’ are sometimes empty, paint is unframed and borders are left open allowing the work to expand beyond its own margins.

Tom Henderson has shown work with jaggedart for five years. This is his second solo show at jaggedart, following the successful exhibition Plane Space. Tom Henderson lives and works in France.