Introducing Deborah Treliving

I have just stumbled across Deborah Treliving prints at her Cockington Studio near Torquay. I was very taken with her prints; her style is reminiscent of the American ‘Color Field’ painter Mark Rothko (1903 - 1970). Color Field painting is basically large fields of solid or flat color applied to the canvas to create areas of unbroken surface color and a flat picture plane. The movement relies less on gesture, brushstrokes and the calligraphy of the painters’ hand in favor of an overall unity of form and process – compare Rothko’s Red and Orange (1955) with Treliving’s Carborundum print which conveys an intense gestural even spiritual experience for the viewer.

Treliving employs a methodology which distinguishes her from Rothko through her exciting use of multiple transparent color layers – which is a completely different approach taken by Rothko in Red and Orange, where he rendered the canvas with solid color.

Treliving prints establish an intimate rapport with the viewer. Her prints although small resonates an assured depth and intensity which are passionate poetic gems in their own right. In this respect, her work is confident, remarkably rich in color and confirms her as a true colorist. In contrast, Rothko’s strength is; his works’ do ‘shudder’ (kill off all art works prior to the works completion) and is a reaction to the figurative plastic arts of his time.

My disappointment of Treliving prints are their size; although size should not be an issue I feel compelled to say it is. This is the opposite to Rothko who was also aware of the importance of size for his artworks. The room guide notes from the 2008-9 Rothko exhibition at the Tate, attributes Rothko’s thoughts on the issue.

“To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience”, Rothko who once said, “However, you paint the larger picture, you are in it. It isn't something you command.”

Returning to Trelivings poetic gems, I was taught that every inch of the picture plane needed to be given the same amount of visual study and consideration which overwhelms me with her attend to detail. You can tell the gravitas of the painter by the compositional design and use of the picture plane with extra consideration for the corners – which should be as different as possible, in this respect Treliving along with Barbara Rea, Sandra Blow and Maggi Hambling are in my mind undoubtedly the high priestess.

In Poetics of Space, Garston Bachelard explains the corner’s importance as a “secluded space in which we like to hide, or withdraw into ourselves. The corner is like of your bedroom, where time stands still, it is where you will always find a little dust no matter how often you clean. The corner represents a symbol of solitude for the imagination” a place of introspection where artists’ take refuge and gather their thoughts and mental strength. In lesser artists’ the corner is the void the emptiness of their art.

One final thought:

Feel a Treliving work and you’re not alone, its her brillance and colour usage which just thrills and delights and her speaking corners hold no bones. Just little gems – of such might. Yet, such silence works demand more light!