Harminder Judge’s exuberant paintings transport viewers beyond the flat planes of his images into a cosmic realm of open horizons and rich colour fields. Inspired by sources as diverse as Indian Neo-Tantric painting and Euro-American Abstract Expressionism, Judge’s works are produced through a multi-stage alchemical process that begins by layering pigments into pools of wet plaster that, when dry, produce what Judge has called ‘augmented plaster’, and which Judge then excavates by sanding, polishing and oiling. This distinctive method allows Judge to create vibrant planes of colour and churning abstract forms, which are revealed through unfolding chemical processes.
Untitled (opening cage and ribs displayed) is one of Judge’s more recent works, formed from two abutting pieces. The work is composed of abstracted figures that span both surfaces and loosely gesture to the painting’s title, an oblique reference to the artist’s own experience as a teenager visiting Amritsar, in India’s Punjab region. During this trip, Judge participated in funerary rites and witnessed the transformation of corporeal matter into ash. These materials and the experience of observing these transitions between states seem to inform this painting, imbuing it with a potent mix of light and shade and giving rise to the dark shape at its centre.
This painting is a significant addition to the Government Art Collection, reflecting British Abstract Expressionism’s long legacy and the exciting new directions in which this tradition, and British painting more generally, is being taken. The work also conveys a sense of continual flux, making it an ideal addition to a collection that is constantly on the move and in which, as Judge has envisioned, it can act as a ‘portal’ to other worlds.
