By Donald Schenkel
180 x 50 cm, 2023
Oil paint on linen

From the series Archaic Shadows.

Opposite the expanse of lightness, there is the depth expressed by shadows. The series Archaic Shadows is grounded in this depth, found in gradients where lighter colours dissolve into darkening twilights. For Donald the book In Praise of Shadows points out the beauty of what we would consider darkness, and that befits the sensibility of these artworks. Shadows linger on the edge of the unknown, mystical and dark. Often made on wood and shaped into sculptures, the colour transitions in this series are grounded but deep. As his first venture into sculptural paintings these works sparked his attention to the object, the artefact and the archaic. This sensation of the ancient and otherworldly fits his idea of a silent wonder well yet contains a potency to be further explored.