Ivan Durrant | Horsepower
Be transported into the hyped up buzz of race day, as Ivan Durrant introduces his latest show 'Horsepower-Recent works'.
Capturing snapshot moments of race finishes, Durant evokes the exciting frenzy that overwhelms the course.
A long standing interest for Durrant, the artist reflects on the passion underlying the practice, “With Horsepower, I’ve finally found a way to cement the horse and jockey together as the one unit, almost a centaur of power and excitement, one giving way to the other, but with the sense of the beast still in charge; the whole scene bombarded with fantasy-coloured light.”
This fascination with light and colour is what feeds Durrant’s experimentation with photorealism in his painting, “Ever since I can remember, light and colour have held a fascination for me…With colour-reflected light and shape now in my bloodstream; any wonder horse-racing would become an obsession in my paintings”
By zooming in and blowing up images, Durrant captures last minute action shots that that are inaccessible through a camera or from a bystander’s view. Durrant takes the race to the next level hyping its intensity in colour and form with his ‘Supraphotolism’.
“I’ve labelled my technique ‘Supraphotolism’, which distinguishes itself from Photorealism by not depending on the photograph as the main source of the painting, but rather takes inspiration from what I call ‘ the birthmarks of photography’: a sense of realism from mimicking the photograph with its out-of-focus blurs and blobs of colour. Quite often, the image never existed in a photograph or real life, or was only partly inspired by a fleeting view from television.”
Blurring reality with abstraction, details are stripped away enabling the vibrant colours of the surreal jockeys and horses to exude the energy and vitality of race day.
Whether you are a racing fan, or not, Durrant’s show exudes an energy that is intoxicating. His play with form and colour present racing in a whole new light.
Horsepower: Recent works by Ivan Durrant
10 October – 29 November 2015
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Courtesy the artist, photographer Jamie Durrant and the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
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