Works

Line and colour have long been the basis of Steve Roper’s art. Steve tends to just draw with line, very rarely with tone. His favourite artists, like Bruch Petty, often focus on lines rather than tone. The exhibition features drawings on paper in a variety of media including pencil, crayons, ink, and watercolour. They are not necessarily drawings of things; they are abstract works but may evoke subjects. As clay dries, it hardens, and each stage creates a different engagement with the drawing process.

Line drawing has been much on the artists mind of late as it is likely to be affected by Parkinson’s, which he has had for some time. It’s a shrinking condition; you keep making smaller movements, but they look perfectly fine to you.

In painting, line gives way to masses of colour. At school, Steve was drawn to Matisse’s colour and De Kooning’s techniques. There is a directness he finds very appealing. Steve’s take on that is to build up layers of colour and line; and if you keep building up lines, they start to disintegrate into shapes.

For Steve, the appeal of abstract art, when it works, is that it gives anyone the opportunity to experience it and work out what they make of it.