Oh! Oh!

Jane Harris (1956 - 2022)

Oil on linen

1997

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  • About the work
    Two oval areas of dark orange speckled with yellow emerge from a vermillion background. The initial impression of the brilliant almost violent, colour of Jane Harris’s painting Oh! Oh! is textured by the subtle variations in colour and tone which become apparent on closer inspection. Harris’s use of even, controlled brushstrokes create a sense of depth, throwing up different shapes and tones that seem to alter as you move around and view the picture from a different angle. This process-led approach maintains a certain mystery with the sequence of strokes rendering each form the appearance of being without beginning or end. The sources of the recurring elliptical forms found in Harris’ work are derived from classical gardens that she has researched while travelling in Japan and France between 1981 and 1991.


    In 2006 Harris commented on her work:


    My paintings simultaneously reveal and conceal themselves. They operate in an arena somewhere between the abstract and representation…They aim to retain a sense of secrecy or privacy, an opaqueness that, although problematic and awkward, is both engaging and enjoyable.


  • About the artist
    Jane Harris was born in Dorset and studied at Bournemouth College of Art in the mid 1970s and then at Camberwell School of Art, Brighton Polytechnic, Slade School of Art and finally at Goldsmiths’ College where she completed her MA. During this time she also gained several awards including travel scholarships to Japan, Paris, Grenoble and Amsterdam between 1981 and 1991. She has exhibited widely in the United Kingdom and overseas. In 2006 she resigned as a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths and moved to south-west France with her family to focus fully on her artistic career.
  • Explore
    Places
    Subjects
    abstract
    Materials & Techniques
    linen, oil, oil painting
  • Details
    Title
    Oh! Oh!
    Date
    1997
    Medium
    Oil on linen
    Dimensions
    height: 71.30 cm, width: 127.50 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Anderson O'Day, July 1999
    Inscription
    verso top on fold-over: JANE HARRIS `OH OH' 1997 Jane Harris
    Provenance
    Anderson O'Day Gallery, London
    GAC number
    17397