John Blackburn (British, b. 1932)

John Blackburn came to prominence in the 1960s, producing work closely allied to that of the post-War St Ives School, above all to William Scott and Roger Hilton, and his work was immediately collected by Jim Ede at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge. His richly-textured oils often seem to share Scott’s and Hilton’s formal and technical concerns, as well as their subtle earthy palettes, making striking use of the palette knife, as well as complex abrasive techniques of paring down or incising a painting’s surface. The last ten years have seen Blackburn return to the limelight, with several retrospectives, and he continues to produce work of great substance and emotional depth.

Untitled (2010) is a work of meetings and of middle grounds, exploring what lies between black and white, smooth and rough, raw and refined. Its two forms, in black and grey, sum up his intuitive sense of balance and softened geometry. It is a work that is at once simple and complex, immediately striking yet inviting and repaying close, sustained scrutiny.