Sydney Ball (1933 - 2017)
Blue Vertical1964
acrylic on canvas
signed, dated and inscribed with title verso (stretcher) Museum label verso "The Aldrich Museum" with details of the work
134.5 x 126cm
Colossus1974
enamel and acrylic on canvas
signed, titled and dated on reverse
159 x 190cm
Provenance
Previously Veda Swain collection, Adelaide;
Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne;
Private collection;
Bonhams and Goodman, Bay East Art, Sydney, 21 September 2008;
Private collection, Sydney
Exhibited
Sydney Ball, Greenhill Gallery, Adelaide, 1974.
The Stain Paintings 1971-80, Sydney Ball, Sullivan + Strumpf, 22 October – 16 November 2013
Essay
Referring to his Stain series Ball stated:
“I see it as a continuation of the early Cantos. I’ve never deviated from the original intentions of the early Cantos to what I’m doing now. For me, the whole problem of a painting is the importance of colour. Style for me is quite secondary. I think you can break across styles… like Hans Hofmann or Matisse or even Picasso. You can go through a number of ways of getting to that final painting; through the way in which you put on the paint, the physicality of putting it on, the process, the surface that’s attained. Its all of these things”.
Sydney Ball, Ten Australians, ten-part ABC documentary series, Sydney, 1975, produced and directed by Stafford Garner and Dale McCrae, with the support of the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.