Callum Innes (born 1962) is a Scottish abstract painter known for his "Exposed Paintings" series, where process becomes concept and subject.
I encountered Callum Innes's work in my third year of my Fine Art degree, and it revealed something profound: that process painting could in itself be a concept and subject. Minimalism at its best.
His "Exposed Paintings" involve a painstaking process of applying and then partially removing paint, revealing layers, creating these luminous fields of colour divided by softer, ghostly areas where paint has been washed away. There's something meditative about the precision, a quietness that demands attention.
Innes showed me that you don't need grand gestures to create powerful work; sometimes restraint speaks loudest. His work is about what's left behind as much as what's put down—a lesson that's shaped how I think about my own layering process.
MY FAVOURITE PIECE
Exposed Painting Paynes Grey/Yellow Oxide/Red Oxide on White (1999)
Oil on linen, 216 × 216 cm (85 × 85 in)
Tate, London
