Widely considered to be a pioneer of abstract painting in New Zealand Milan Mrkusich's work was among the first in New Zealand art to reflect what was happening at that time in the international art world.
This work, from the 'Chromatic Suite' of works on paper, illustrates the dichotomy often present in Mrkusich's work. At first glance the work appears to be about the flat surface of a field of colour and, even though it appears to reject the representation of depth, through the intentional use of colour, against all odds, the illusion of depth is created regardless.
In this work where the majority of the picture surface is a field of green punctuated by a blue triangle in the lower left corner and balanced by the tiny bright spot of complementary colour red at the upper right. The contrast between the green and red creates the illusion for the viewer of the dot either receeding behind or protruding forwards from the background. The red dot appears to almost sing and dance in front of your eyes when viewed.
Jennifer Taylor Moore, Curator of Collections, Sarjeant Gallery for the exhibition 'What It Is Not' 13 June - 25 July 2020