The world is a colourful place, and artist have a huge colour palette to choose from. But what happens when you limit yourself to yellow, cyan, magenta, and black? This is what Julie Trudel has done in her most recent show, Project CMYK – Phase 2, at Optica. Trudel is part of a long line of artists who work in the abstract, focusing their practice around the nature of colour rather than a specific subject. In this series Trudel uses the four printer inks to explore the nature of colour.

Trudel has painted acrylic, silk screen printing ink and gesso on plywood. Some of the paintings are 35 X 35 cm in square or diamond formation and others are larger circles. In each case the paint forms circular or oval shapes, sometimes centred, sometimes not, but never symmetrical nor covering the entire board. On the square and diamond shaped works the colours are painted over a larger white circle. In these ones the ink is painted into a swirling motion, like a black hole, and the colours blend into one another. We see highlights of various colours, particularly the magenta and yellow and also new colours produced when the inks are mixed together. The larger works are made from what appears to be the blending of colour as the ink drips down. The colours change from outside in, each one slightly differently. Within the ovals are tiny squares of colour. From a distance all you can see is an overall colour (made from the various inks), but close up you the individual pigments in each square.

These glossy yet subtle works are fantastic. They present an exploration of colour based on modern day technologies. Instead of primary colours, Trudel uses printer ink to explore not only how colour works, but also what variations can be made from this simple starting point. It is a striking and beautiful project.

Galerie Optica, space 508
Julie Trudel
Project CMYK – Phase 2
May 12 – June 16 2012
www.optica.ca