Allis-Chalmers Orange traverses the picture plane like a bad day in the field. Trout Lily Yellow stomps out the smoking, charred grass around the fire pit. In Patrick Cull’s print/painting hybrids, the picture plane is an imagined terrain, sculpted in part by agricultural excavation, new growth, and erosion. His wood block prints on linen incorporate shapes and colours associated with the Huron Tract on shaped canvases delineating township boundaries. Surveyor’s chains — an archaic method of land measurement dating back to settlement — find their way into the composition, carving plots of printed patterns on the linen’s surface. Colours found in plants, cartography and industry spur connections to land development within the Tract.
In his artist talk, Cull will discuss the history, ecology, and politics that inspired this new series of work.