Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue?
Until May 14; Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh

Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue, asked giant of abstract expressionism, Barnett Newman, in the 1960s. His canvas of the same name was a huge expanse of scarlet, edged with two thin, vertical stripes of blue and yellow. One of the founding fathers of the movement, Newman strove to create a wholly new art experience, unfettered by “the nostalgic glasses of history”.

Ingleby Gallery, purveyors of the most tasteful modernist delicacies, have borrowed Newman’s title for their latest show. A yellow rectangle here; a red square there and a lilac circle beyond; the minimalist haven is complete. Ingleby regulars Callum Innes, Ian Davenport and David Austen are joined by Dillwyn Smith and American Winston Roeth, doing nothing to dispel the decades-old complaint that abstract expressionism is a men-only club.

One small canvas by Callum Innes marks a new turn in the Edinburgh artist’s work. Isolated Form is an entirely red square, with a tiny dot of exposed canvas just below its centre. The weight of the red colour charges the little hole with intensity, like a star about to be born.

Davenport’s smooth, enamel-like surfaces have a sculptural quality, each layer of colour at a different height from the rest. Colour becomes something tangible and concrete in his hands, subject to the laws of gravity. At the same time he reveals its elusiveness; purple isn’t just purple when its surface is so reflective. It’s simultaneously a collection of all the colours and shapes in the room.

Seeing all of these works together, with their hard-edged, uncompromising purity, is almost too much to bear. Individually, each artist has found their own way of tweaking the Ab Ex approach to make something subtly new. But collectively, they are a band of eager followers, doomed to play out their careers in the shadow of their radical forebears.

In its early days, Abstract Expressionism was a primeval scream from the heart. At what point did it become the epitome of drawing room chic? “Our work”, said Barnett Newman, “must insult anyone who is spiritually attuned to interior decoration; pictures for the home; pictures for over the mantel”. Ingleby Gallery, if the truth be told, has its fair share of mantels.

Catrìona Black, Sunday Herald 27.03.05