Geoff Thornley’s Tondo series relies on the compositional devices of balance, geometry and structure. Movement is captured in the visualization of a rotation or circular motion, enhanced by the triangular variations in the surface of the work at various points in its structure.
The redness of the circular void of Tondo envelopes you as a viewer, pulling you into a consideration of the space the work inhabits. The expansive openness creates a vastness, yet also controls and encompasses space, while the white components offer contemplative pauses.
The refined surfaces of the Tondo series, as is the case with many of the constructed works, are made of highly finished layers of oil finely built up on to a surface of gessoed canvas laid on to board. The outer edge of the red circle is perforated by the segments of white, which are physically separate components from the main red surface.
The Tondo paintings were completed in conjunction with the Constructions and Albus works in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Untitled (Construction #13) (Lot 29) is painted in juxtaposing shades of a deep sky blue and sharp green, the two tones forming contrasting voids. The tension of the work lies in the slice of blue within the green, forming an off-kilter rectangular plane. Untitled (Dyad) (Lot 49) completes the significant offering of highly constructed, sophisticated works by Thornley which are represented in this catalogue. JESSICA PEARLESS