Lawrence Calver

Primarily known for his textile works, Lawrence Calver’s work incorporates a variety of fabrics, from cotton silk and linen to suede and wool. Working within the idiom of modernist painting, he takes the material support – the canvas or the plane – and sews, bleaches, stretches or stains the fabric to create works that aim to unify abstraction and representation.

Calver is at his best working within a limited range of colour; preferring instead to exploit surface, texture and tonality. The grain of the textiles, and the variations in textures have their own beauty through which he conveys an atmosphere and delineation of form. He recognises opportunities in the material before he creates the work. The materials he chooses have a history; each piece has an independent identity, and Lawrence simply assists in that realisation. The artist regards his work as an organic process of experimentation and discovery, led by his materials on a journey of improvisation. He still regards his role in the work as a director, letting serendipity guide the final piece or perhaps, visual performance of his evanescent cast.