Redefining the abstract

“We live in a moment of HD clarity,” explains Francesca Gavin, Visual Arts Editor here at Dazed and curator of Fade Out, an exhibition currently on show – and for sale – in London until January. “I wanted to highlight how representation isn’t always so clear. I love blur, fuzz, fade, smudge and mist – reality is space and absence as much as form and figure.” Featuring works from British artists Tracey Emin, whose figures are self-described as a “dream-like place”, Stewart Cliff, whose works featured were inspired by finger tracks left in the dust on a car window, and Rick Myers, who economically uses the shattered glass of a lightbulb as the basis of his work.

“Truth is supposed to be clear with strong edges. Yet in reality, this is not achievable,” reads the exhibition’s release, which focuses on the notion that something abstract can be achieved at the point where things become blurred, as the layers and materials of the artwork literally ‘fade out’ to the edges of the canvas. “I was interested in the current of process-led abstract painting and in particular the whole idea of how an abstract image is created,” reveals Gavin.

Fade Out is exhibition at Club Monaco’s flagship store in Sloane Square, London until February, 2015, with all pieces on sale to the public.