Julia Farrer : : A Throw of the Dice

Art Space Gallery presents its first solo exhibition of new paintings by Julia Farrer.

Though pre-eminently a painter Julia Farrer’s practice has, over a long and distinguished career, embraced printmaking and the making of artist’s books, often in collaboration with the late Ian Tyson under the imprint Partworks. After his death in 2021 his son Matthew invited her to show at the Brussel’s Art Fair, Art on Paper, for which she made a series of drawings in Ian’s memory. They were titled Un Coup de Dés (A Throw of the Dice) after the celebrated Mallarmé poem and this series of drawings became the inspiration and corner-stone of all of the paintings that have followed that are now being brought together in this exhibition. Linked by a common interest in geometric forms they are paintings that take us to the extremities of an utterly rigorous and pared-down statement. They are purged of extraneous detail and relentlessly single minded in the pursuit of geometric self-sufficiency. There is no sign of Farrer searching for herself in the execution and no evidence of strain or struggle. This is highly objective painting; a statement of extreme refinement, formed and articulated with absolute certainty and control.