Ken Prescott writes - "Collage,
with all the tangible textural qualities I so enjoy, has become
my chosen medium. The excitement of papers of every colour, texture
and pattern, the suggestive qualities that allow me to "build"
my paintings, the juxtaposition of these elements which creates
the sensuous interplay of form and colour – all this gives
me the freest, most spontaneous expression I know and a much greater
pleasure as a painter than pigment on a palette."
Ken Prescott achieves his effects by applying acrylic polymer paints
directly on paper, using almost any means that will give him the
texture he is looking for – brush, knife, sprayer, trowel,
roller. The results are mounted on either 4-ply rag board, _"
masonite or stretched canvas using acrylic polymer adhesive. Two
coats of acrylic matte varnish permanently seal the work.
Everything in Ken Prescott’s work evolves from papers covered
with paint that start out on the studio floor an are later "assembled"
to form a likeness. They then become an integral part of the collage
as portions are removed from the paper they were painted on and
placed in the context demanded by the specific work. In the case
of the "Odysseys" pictures, based on Prescott’s
travels in many parts of the world, some of the components are "picked
up along the way" and then find their way into the pictures.
The subject matter of Ken Prescott’s collages include the
"Odysseys", the marine series of brilliant tropical fishes
and, most strikingly for me, the land and seascapes of Western Canada.
In all of these it is easy to see that his work is as much about
the texture of things as it is about using texture to reveal what
things are and how their various textures relate, compliment and
contrast to and with each other in the interplay of form and colour.
Collage literally means "sticking", putting one thing
on another, making something new and different out of other things.
Ken Prescott’s collages give us a new way of looking at the
familiar and expected. They enable us to see and feel in equally
new ways. Vivid and strong, they are continuously revealing.
Anthony Robertson, Vancouver,
1991
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