Confluence: Peter Layton & Tim Rawlinson
12 September - 12 October
“Time marches on. Succession is on the horizon. Tim and I are working together towards a degree of continuity in ethos and in our approach to our making practice.” - Peter Layton
At its heart, glassmaking is a collaborative art form. This exhibition, Confluence, our joint exhibition, signifies a coming together - a merging, mingling and blending of ideas - a meeting of minds. If that sounds pretentious, that isn’t our intention. We simply want to illustrate a synergistic process, a way of working alongside one another where each of us contributes to the other’s creative journey.
This exhibition explores a number of common strands of new and archival pieces that show how our sources of inspiration, concepts and making, overlap on occasion, demonstrating our mutual interests and how we influence one another. Ways in which we might do this could be a ‘critical’ prompt, hinting at some possible development, a constructive comment, a grin or a grimace.
Since we are both extremely interested in creating visual texture, and exploring colour and surface treatments, seeking to create flowing movement and optical depth, we also find that we are sometimes independently researching similar ideas or forms.
Tim draws inspiration from Anthony McCall's Solid Light exhibition at Tate Modern, creating optical sculptures in solid glass forms that are kinetic in nature - where the interior flows and reverberates within the glass, never remaining static in the viewer’s perception.
Rock by Peter Layton
Equinox by Tim Rawlinson
"My new works for Confluence explore the optical possibilities of textured surfaces, creating illusions that transform how light interacts with glass. Some techniques I've adapted from Peter's earlier works, particularly his Medusa series with its embedded coloured elements, have been reinterpreted through my interest in perception and visual movement. The wave-like textures serve both as an homage to Peter's fluid aesthetic, and as my own exploration of optical boundaries, especially in my black and white pieces influenced by Bridget Riley's op art." - Tim Rawlinson
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