“As well as wanting a balance in the composition, there should be what I call a startling rightness. This can be any shape or colour: the crucial thing is that although perfect in its place, there is an unexpected quality about it, an element of surprise.” - Sandra Blow
Considered as one of the leading lights of the abstract art movement in the 1950s, Sandra Blow’s works are often large in scale and consist of abstract collages created from discarded materials such as sawdust, cut-out strips of old canvas, plaster and torn paper. When she first started making work over 75 years ago, the use of such materials introduced an expressive informality within British art, promoting a natural, organic feeling. Her works have a tactile as well as visual emphasis on surface, and her use of simple large geometric shapes lends a feeling of expansiveness and dynamism. Responding to the optimistic climate of the 1960s, Blow’s colour palette lightened and celebrated the mood with light compositions punctuated with bright, bold colours. Though the artist’s work has a Matisse-inspired decorative manner, Blow believed that abstract art did not simply reach its own audience, but gained validity by feeding back into avenues such as fashion, architecture, and design.