Abstract in Blue - Customer Review

Abstract in Blue is the second piece of artwork that I acquired from UK-based artist John Fiddes. I had previously bought Golant which was easily recognisable as a tribute to Troika pottery, and spotted ‘Abstract in Blue’ on his website.

This piece is very different from works in the Troika collection. It is a large abstract painting with the dominant colour blue. It is slightly reminiscent of Wassily Kandinsky’s In The Blue  but places even more of an emphasis on blue shades and hews.

Cold blue rectangular forms are offset or highlighted by warm semi-circles of red or yellow. A large sweeping swirl moves from white to dark blue, finishing in the top right of the painting and so giving a sense of motion to the picture. This could be an American cityscape, indeed the first thing I thought of was Rhapsody in Blue when I viewed it.

Anyone familiar with Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner could imagine this as the view of a futuristic earth as seen from the cockpit of one of the flying vehicles, with the circles being the reflecting light from the sunset. Or perhaps the blocks are great monoliths à la 2001: A Space Odyssey.  However you view this work, you cannot help but be mesmerised as you slowly fall into the blue.

Eddie Doherty

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