Henry Ward, Abracadabra

About

Henry Ward has been making paintings for over 25 years. Recently he began to make small sculptures constructed on his kitchen table and using found materials. The sculptures are made following a series of simple rules; only objects found whilst out walking in the city, only the materials found can be used in the construction of the sculptures; rubber bands, hairbands and small pieces of string to bind forms together, objects wedged into one another, things balanced. These sculptures were originally intended to act as maquettes for a series of paintings. Instead, they have informed the recent works in a more nuanced way, with the new paintings being created in a manner that reflects the assemblage of the small sculptures. The paintings come together through a series of decisions in which Ward responds to existing marks, building up layers and forms. Ward is interested in the physical properties of paint itself and in the ways in which it can be manipulated; thin and thick; opacity and translucence; hard edges and smudged areas; the illusion of space; the acknowledgment of the flat surface. References to the history of painting, cartoons, stage and film sets appear as the paintings come together. Such references have been a staple of Ward’s painting, but in the recent series they are manifesting themselves through the act of painting itself.