In Trueman’s newest work he has developed a process of painting on large scale Yupo, a synthetic paper that is mounted to aluminum. The unique interaction of the smooth Yupo surface and various types of acrylic paint application both sprayed and directly with brush and squeegee allow for marks and forms to be made as both positive and negative space. This back and forth process of positive and negative reverses the norm of gestural painting by presenting the gestural mark and its inversion within the same space, rather than the physical presence of the mark as a record of movement or idea, the negative gesture exists as the transparent boundary between previous and subsequent layers.
The perimeter of the mark remains as a residue of a mark that is no longer there. This imprint of the vacant mark operates visually in a photographic or digital space yet remains firmly in the material world of painting. These works are the realization of a long series of information seeking, meeting with various fabricators for mounting and carpenters to build out the backing. Trueman’s vision of what these works would look like extended beyond the painting of these works to the construction of the surface and substrate. The combined effect is a surface that successful mimics the digital or photographic space without actually being either of these things. This strange physical nature conveys Trueman’s interest in the transitory and fragile nature of representational imagery as well as the malleability and flexibility of the painting medium.
Image: PB2, 2016. Acrylic on Yupo mounted to Aluminum. 600mm x 1200mm
