PAINTINGS

The heart of HERE LIES is a series of large-scale abstract paintings, although given their physicality, ‘wall sculptures’ might be a better term. They combine the purest oil paint with a slew of detritus - mineral fragments; old electrical components; human and animal remains, and so forth - materials embedded deeply in their highly structured surface.

This elaborate structuration is Crowder’s trademark style, a unique way of making paintings which owes as much to engineered systems, both natural and man-made, as it does to conventional or historical practise. It was developed especially for HERE LIES, after years of experimentation.

The admixture of reflective metallic and mineral elements to Crowder’s pigments represents a further degree of elaboration. In conjunction with the multiply layered structure, light itself - gathered, scattered and refracted back - is made a dynamic partner in the overall optical effect.

The result is a corresponding dynamism on the part of the viewer, whose movement completes the work of art. It is a physical contact Crowder welcomes wholeheartedly. The paintings’ real presence is an opportunity for a very special kind of reflection, eliciting the big visions our lives leave little room for. By their very nature, these thoughts and feelings are not defined by nor readily confined to any particular cultural perspective or social class: it is no accident that Crowder’s chose to first test the event in a place like Brixton, in a club called MASS.

The paintings are the main focus of Malcolm Quinn’s essay White Trash, reproduced in the text section of this site.