Callum Innes

Born in Edinburgh in 1962, Callum Innes first emerged to prominence with a generation of Scottish painters in the early 1990s. Unlike most of his contemporaries he rejected figuration creating powerful abstract canvases which have won him wide acclaim. He has been exhibtiting internationally for over a decade and is regarded as one of the most important painters working in Britain today. This publications presents a dynamic range of works from the distinctive Exposed Painting series which were commissioned for Tate St Ives. Innes belongs to a generation of British artists who continue to explore the possibilities of paint on canvas, using the language of the monochrome, an established format of abstract painting since the 1960s. His paintings are created through a process of addition and subtraction; sometimes he eliminates areas of paint from the surface grid to leave a faint trace - a technique which injects a dynamic lyricism into an otherwise architecturally still painting. An essay by Keith Hartley examines Innes in an international context and offers new insights into his continuously evolving practice.