Gasp! That’s exactly the sound I made in 2017 when I stood in front of the final piece above, titled “Colourfall”, installed at the Giardini during the Venice Biennale. It was ridiculously hot that day, and so I wasn’t completely sure if I was melting or if the art was! All of these “poured paintings” are the work of London based artist Ian Davenport {there he is sweating in the Venetian humidity while taking care of the finishing touches}. Here’s a description of Ian’s work:

Davenport’s artistic is an exploration of line and form in paint. Driven by an enduring fascination with the materiality of paint, his signature technique is to allow the fluid properties of the medium to form compositions of vibrant colours in defined lines across his support. The Artist’s intent is evident in the carefully composed series of colours that appear in his paintings, exploring colour relationships and guided by his intuition and decades of experience as a painter. Davenport often uses groups of colours from a historical painting as a reference point to initiate his own sequences. Inherent in his process is the question of how colour gives shape and structure to an image and how it produces rhythm and dynamism in abstract art. ~ via Jenna Burlingham Fine Art

Ah, what I wouldn’t give to be sweating beside that poured rainbow in Venice again. One day.

{Thanks to @taxcollection – and this insane video they just posted – for reminding me of Ian’s fabulous work}