Abstract Object
Spatial Art · 2007
- ArtistDavid Spriggs
- Year2007
- Dimensions72 × 51 × 28 cm
28½ × 20 × 11 inches - Layers18
- MaterialsWhite acrylic paint on layered transparencies in a display case
- CollectionMontreal Museum of Fine Arts
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Abstract Object gives spatial presence to the suggestion of force.
A concentration of white extends into a diffuse wake, evoking the passage of a comet or the energy of an impact. Its direction and intensity invite the viewer to imagine a body in motion, while its dispersing edges leave that body’s limits uncertain. What appears to occupy the case suggests an event held in suspension.
The title brings the philosophical idea of an object into tension with this encounter. An object is something we recognise as distinct and persisting through change; an event is something that happens. Here, the apparent form extends through the very space that would separate it from everything else. Transparency becomes an active material, allowing concentration and dispersal to coexist. Does an object need to be present, or can the suggestion of force lead us to supply one?
