Art for Ukraine

LeefDreem perfectly exemplifies Packer’s experimental approach to colour and technique, challenging the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. A reflection on visual perception, the work delivers an enchanting balance between illusion and allusion, the seen and the imagined. There are no clear representational elements depicted in the painting, but within its thick layers of colour there is a suggestion of an original landscape which has become blurred. Packer’s practice is thus reminiscent of the German Expressionist, Gerhard Richter, according to whom ‘the eye always searches for “something” in abstract paintings, some similarity with real objects—that’s what creates the effect of abstract paintings. That’s why we can understand them We want to see what they offer us, whether they threaten us or whether they’re nice to us, or whatever it might be.’*

Joe Packer was awarded the Contemporary British Painting prize in 2018. His recent exhibitions include:  Matthew Burrows Selects at Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, London, The Towner International at The Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, 2021, Circling Forces at Aleph Contemporary London, ‘Dialogues’ curated by Alastair Hicks at the London Art Fair 2020. He studied painting at the Royal College of Art, 1992-94 and Norwich School of Art 1989-92. Packer lives and works in St Leonards, East Sussex.

*Gerhard Richter, quoted in Hans Ulrich Obrist, Interview, Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2021, online

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