WILLIAM TURNBULL | UNTITLED (RED)

‘The absorption of nature and the act of painting are two activities reconciled during the act of painting ... It is impossible to pre-plan – it is a live performance. This is not, as it is often suggested to be, an act of egoism and indifference to nature: rather it is the reverse. It can stem from the deepest respect for things, from the belief that one does not attempt to imitate them or recreate them in their own terms. The artist attempts to create a new object, participating as a parallel activity.’

(William Turnbull, ‘Nature into Art’, 1957, published in Uppercase 4, 1960, unpaginated)