Monte Clark

Gillmore’s paintings are characteristic of his practice and depict revelations scribed with oil stick across fragmented fields. Bold statements are softened by the texture of the oil stick and layered with transparencies, and complex compositions.

 These colourful paintings hang in contrast to Gillmore’s monochromatic tablets comprised of hand-cut letters, plasticine, found objects and gesso. The tablets emphasize both a visual topography and verbal significance. White paint unifies the pictorial field, manifesting a productive tension between flatness and depth. While embodying reduction and restraint these works convey a sense of playfulness making reference to anecdotes and tensions within the creative process.  

 Fashioned out of unconventional materials are five sculptures that explore multidimensional space and corporeal form, reflecting on a connection between language and the human body — how words travel through us and where meaning sets in. The fluid compositions reflect those found in his paintings as streams that separate or connect thoughts. Comprised of familiar objects, clothing hangers, a spice rack, a candelabra, garden ornaments, paper holders, and knife blocks, these items are transformed from a utilitarian purpose to an aesthetic one.