Painting > __chronology

oil, painting, red, abstract painting by Robert John Glass
76
oil on canvas
30x48 inches
March 2014

This painting is one of a series that captures a complex system created through thin film instability induced by variable viscosity and density during drying on an inclined canvas. Here, two reds (dark and light) and two blues (dark and light) with different properties are placed on black oil paint in primarily side to side lines with some circular blobs on a horizontal canvas. After a given equilibrium time the canvas is inclined and the system becomes unstable developing irregularities and fingers that move downward. As the paint films cure from the interface with the air, their variation in viscous properties with depth and between colors cause them to rip apart and be carried along with the flow in smaller pieces yielding complex texture and, through the juxtaposition of color, additional optical depth. After a given time, the canvas is placed horizontal and the paint fully cured capturing the far from equilibrium field.