The current body of works unites dominant strands from Eliasson’s previous forays into painting – in watercolours, oils, and acrylic paints – while exploring the possibilities afforded by a medium that is new for the artist: alcohol inks. The inks are diluted heavily with isopropyl alcohol, poured onto untreated round canvases, and allowed to spread slowly outwards into amorphous stains. Eliasson only intervenes in the process in gentle ways, by using a dryer, heat lamp, or fan to nudge or restrain the flow. Once a layer has dried, he may return to the canvas to add a new colour or layer. The resulting compositions reflect the agency of chance, the materiality of the paper, the viscosity of the liquid, and the atmospheric conditions at the time of the work’s emergence.
As with the Seven days of sunlight series, these works use circular canvases that eschew the spatial hierarchies inherent in the traditional, rectilinear painting formats. The compositions grow from the centre outwards and are not determined by the artificial boundaries of a square frame.