Thoughtful Intentions
FACE VALUE
John Atherton’s formal abstract works are unequivocally in the tradition of modern abstract art. At first sight, they are to be appreciated entirely in the realm of pure visual abstraction and the pleasures of viewing carefully composed colour and form. However, counter-intuitively to this tradition, Atherton’s work emerges not from the lineage of abstract art but from that of portraiture. The portraits or commemorative representations in an anonymous school yearbook from the 1980s are the geneses for each artwork. Upon realising this the viewer is compelled to unravel the abstract ambiguity of the work with renewed care.