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<\/a>Alex D\u2019Arcy, Static White<\/em>, 2014, , oil on canvas, 34 x 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n\u201cWell, there are only three primary colours,\u201d Alex reminded me, \u201cand for me, choosing to paint with just a few of them\u2014plus white, of course\u2014 is a way of setting limits.\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded at her last remark, but it was a comment I didn\u2019t fully understand; to me, a reduced palette seemed just one more element to celebrate in her work\u2014and a surprising starting point for conversation.<\/p>\n
Yet only a couple of weeks later, while interviewing Canadian-born, Detroit-based artist Lilian Crum, a similar comment was made which sparked an interesting connection\u2014causing Alex\u2019s comment to click\u2014and a new conversation to take shape.<\/p>\n
Lilian explained how early on in her career her initial goal had been to develop her own unique method of mark-making. In her search for what felt right she had experimented with a number of different materials and eventually found her voice using 100% cotton paper, Sumi ink and a calligraphy pen\u2014three simple elements\u2014and she kept it at that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why was choosing just three so important?\u201d\u2014I wanted to understand. \u201cBecause for me,\u201d Lilian explained, \u201cit was a way of setting limits.\u201d<\/p>\n Apparently at the start of her career Lilian faced limitless possibilities. She could, quite literally, take her practice in any direction, using any and every material available. Yet instead of propelling her art-making, the prospect of limitless possibilities paralyzed her.<\/p>\n Sensing freedom in structure, Lilian began by setting some ground rules. In many ways, it could be said that her initial approach was quite unconventional, as she worked hard to put in place strict parameters that would serve to delineate the boundaries of her exploration.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s where the paradox emerges: instead of limiting her practice\u2014as one would imagine\u2014choosing to set parameters actually served to facilitate it, for in working within a finite structure, Lilian was able to set herself free\u2014free to explore her creativity and free to develop her own sense of direction, without the pressure of having left things untried.<\/p>\n Using just three materials\u2014paper, ink and a calligraphy pen\u2014 Lilian is able to develop the full potential of each, and to mine the depth of her mark-making through them. Without the noise of superfluity, her drawings shine with an intrinsic authenticity, and it is precisely because of their reduced simplicity that every element of her work is so fully present.<\/p>\n The same is true of Alex\u2019s oeuvre.<\/p>\n Using just two reds, two blues and a yellow as a base, Alex must spend hours in her studio just mixing her colours\u2014sometimes up to a hundred and fifty at a time. Yet as her densely layered canvases show, the limitless range she is able to produce far exceeds her original five.<\/p>\n In fact, even the daily exercise of mixing her palette is a fruit of her limitations; developing her colours in series, Alex utilizes the lengthy routine as a way to sharpen her eye, training her mind to recognize infinitely subtle nuances, like when a blue becomes a green and when a yellow turns almost imperceptibly to orange.<\/p>\n<\/a>Lilian Crum, Untitled XV<\/em>, 2013, , sumi ink on paper, 28 x 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n<\/a>Lilian Crum, Marionettes<\/em>, 2014, sumi ink on paper, 18 x 24 inches.\u00a0Courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n<\/a>Lilian Crum, Untitled II<\/em>, 2012, sumi ink on paper, 45 x 65 inches. Courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n<\/a>Alex D\u2019Arcy, Horizon<\/em>, 2014, oil on canvas, 42 x 60\u201d. Courtesy of the artist.<\/p>\n