Joanne Robertson goes on a journey with painting. She starts with a series of practical steps: sketching, setting up her studio, and creating a conducive atmosphere with the accompaniment of music. Then, she begins to mix color on a big glass palate. She thinks about how color works, how it behaves and what turns her on within it.

Not one to succumb to meticulous planning, Robertson adopts an approach akin to the spontaneous evolution of her music and poetry. Her goal is intentional, yet open-ended, fostering an environment for experimentation and responsiveness to emotional nuances. Evocative of Joan Mitchell’s calligraphic clusters, the artworks similarly echo the late American artist's expression of painting as a "means for feeling ‘living."

Taking time to observe and contemplate, Robertson envisions colors and marks in tandem, drawing from memory and distant visualizations. Liberally applying paint to the canvas, she recognizes the completion of a piece when it harmoniously aligns with her broader artistic endeavors. Her objective is to uncover the latent image within the work, navigating the interplay of ideas, embracing the abstraction.

The resulting paintings encapsulate a lively and inventive dialogue, skillfully blending complexity with simplicity. For Robertson, painting serves as a rule-minimal conduit to the present, a space where chaos intertwines with her imagination. Beyond the canvas, she hopes her audience extracts emotions or sensations, appreciating the impulse and natural flow that characterize her creative process. In this exploration, she values unpredictability, allowing the paintings to tell their unique stories through color and form. Anything can come to the surface.

Joanne Roberston is a visual artist, musician and poet based in Glasgow. This is Robertson’s first solo show at Company Gallery. Other recent exhibitions include those at Dependence, Brussels (group); Haus der Kunst, München (performance); Champ Lacombe, Biarritz (group); Gregor Staiger, Milan (solo); Sandy Brown, Berlin (solo); Edouard Montassut, Paris (solo) and Kunsthall Charlottenborg, Copenhagen (group).

As a musical artist, Robertson has released a series of solo LPS which have been noted for their “lyrical drifting beauty”. She has also worked on numerous collaborations, including several with Dean Blunt, issuing the Walhalla LP (Textile) as a duo, and appearing on his recordings, the most recent being Black Metal 2 (Rough Trade); a new vinyl record with artist Sidsel Meineche Hansen titled ALIEN BABY, produced by Tenderbooks and songs with Mica Levi and Oliver Coates. Recent publications include 1971 (a year in record review poems) and 1979 Songbook, both in collaboration with writer Byron Coley, published by Tenderbooks and Bad Taste Press.