Alex Spremberg
1950 - Ascent 1993- enamel on wood
Alex Spremberg immigrated from Germany to Australia in 1982 and has built a reputation as one of Western Australia's leading contemporary artists. Spremberg is interested in the inherent aesthetic potential of everyday objects and materials and makes paintings and painted objects in which the physical properties of the materials are a primary focus.
Colour, pattern and materiality combine in this finely-balanced abstract composition that alludes to the idea of ascent. The work progresses over a series of seven step-like panels - each differentiated by a specific arrangement of black squares placed at all four corners.
Encountering the work, the viewer is naturally inclined to scrutinise each panel in sequence in order to discern the presecnce or otherwise of a pattern or logical progression that might apply to placement of the black squares across the entire work. In this process of focused study, the eye and the mind are drawn into an active engagement with the work that asserts both its physical and conceptual presence.
© Alex Spremberg