
Callum Innes
Three Identified Forms 1993 (1993)
Tate
His characteristic form of coolly atmospheric abstraction has aptly been described as ‘unpainting’, given that key compositional elements are generally produced, not by the application of paint, but through its removal by washes of turpentine. Each finished painting thus suggests a freezing in time of the otherwise momentary arrest of an ongoing process. The play between the additive and subtractive process, the making and unmaking, underlies this sophisticated body of work. 1