The garden, the Moving Sculpture

The high proportion of dark colors can hardly conceal the fact that it is it that lends emphasis to the glow of the bright color palette: the title of the Black Garden Paintings by Bruce McLean (*1944) irritates and makes sense at the same moment. The Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester, England, is dedicating an exhibition to the series of paintings starting June 25.

When his wife Rosy creates a garden in their common home on the Balearic island of Menorca, McLean's fascination is perfect: the garden, a »moving sculpture« that is constantly changing, captivates him. Since the 1960s, the sculptor, performance artist, filmmaker and painter has been concerned with this »sculpture,« as he calls it. Using a whole range of media, he explored for decades the garb in which »outdoor space« dressed itself depending on the season - including performances, installations, public art, prints, photographs, films, ceramics, and paintings.

In the Black Garden Paintings, viewers also recognize McLean's own sculptural roots: light and shadow alternate, as if he was just waiting to incorporate his sculptural imagination. The paintings move between reality and abstraction, indicating paths, ponds, flowers, and shrubs. The proximity to sculpture, by the way, is not a matter of interpretation. McLean himself says, »Everything I do comes from the fact that I am a sculptor, although some of it looks like painting, some of it looks like poetry, some of it looks like dance.«

The Black Garden Paintings exhibition runs through October 2 in Gallery 1 and 2 of the Attenborough Arts Centre.