June Barton

Fascinated by light, colour and emotion, I experiment with layering colour in film and printmaking. I view colour as an escape from the harsh realities of life, like a mask to conceal emotion. I like to give the viewer a sense of being part of the art and encourage them to reflect on colour; on how it affects mood, but it can also lie.

My installation, The Luminous and the Grey, takes its title from Dundonian artist David Batchelor’s book. It consists of a movie made from liquid light projections using a traditional overhead projector, clock faces, and petri dishes. The colour and effects are created with food colouring, candle dye, alcohol inks, water and mineral oil. The abstract grey figures are misshapen, broken, and flawed. Memories of loss are present in my work, as my son is never far from my mind. Ross experimented with psychedelic drugs and studied Aldous Huxley, who experienced and wrote about psychedelic colour. This is captured in my liquid light movie, with B Macpherson (fellow art student) performing as a mix of Ross and me.

Round and round it goes, a carousel of colour, pain and pleasure. The grey makes the luminous more luminous, and the luminous makes the grey so much greyer.