JEREMY MOON | PAINTING NO. 6/73

Rowan Gallery, London

Acquired from the above by the present owner in August 1973

“Having studied law and then worked briefly in advertising while maintaining an interest in classical ballet, Moon was inspired to turn to art after seeing the now-legendary Situation exhibition at the Royal Society of British Artists gallery in 1960. Aside from a few months at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, he was largely self-educated. As with many British artists of his generation, his work can be seen as a response to American abstraction—in Moon’s case, to Minimalist painting and in particular that of Frank Stella.

…[As noted by artist Neil Clements], the key quality in Moon’s art is instability, ‘something that worries at the edges of even his most static compositions,’ refusing to provide the viewer ‘with ample enough information to read the paintings entirely as a three-dimensional object or as an illusionistic image.’ That is, the depicted shapes (the painted forms) are in conflict or dialogue with the literal outline of the canvas, creating a sense of uncertainty. Whereas the ‘deductive’ rationale of the shape of a Stella canvas is determined by the depicted form and vice versa, Moon explores the illusionistic possibilities of each composition. Coupled with its objecthood, each work creates a moment of slippage, an instability that turns the glance into a gaze and encourages viewers to deepen their attention.” 

(Sherman Sam, Jeremy Moon, Artforum, November 2016, Vol. 55, No. 3) 

Moon’s work is represented in the permanent collections of Tate, London; British Museum, London; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Art Institute of Chicago; Milwaukee Art Museum; Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence.

http://www.jeremymoon.com/