Jeremy MoonUntitled [9/68] 1968

Moon’s work of the late 1960s is characterised by compositions based on a hard-edged and rigidly geometrical, non-representational visual language and the use of unmodulated colour. In 1970, the artist commented: ‘the need to keep the picture completely abstract is very important to me’ (quoted in Jeremy Moon, 1976, p.7). Untitled [9/68] is a large, almost square canvas. In this work, a diagonal yellow line divides the composition into two. On each side of the line, a differently oriented yellow grid covers the entire surface. While the background is white, twenty spaces between the lines in the upper right are coloured variously pink, lavender, and three tones of blue.

Between 1968 and 1971, the grid became the central motif of Moon’s work, and his preoccupation with it suggests a process of experimentation to achieve different visual effects. He used it ‘not just as a structuring device but as a motif in its own right’ (Livingstone, [p.1])… (read more)