Compton Verney hosted the first large-scale survey exhibition of work by Scottish artist and writer David Batchelor (born 1955). For three decades, Batchelor has been concerned, above all, with colour. His work reflects both a delight in the brilliant hues of the urban environment, and an inquiry into how we respond to this rapidly changing technological environment.

Including work in a wide range of media, from sculpture, installation and drawing, to painting, photography and animation, Colour Is took visitors on a journey through Batchelor’s career, starting with his pre-colour works from the 1980s. These give way to his earliest experiments with colour and found objects in the ‘90s, and vivid multimedia installations during the 2000s. The exhibition culminated with recent work, including a glowing animation, in which sentences beginning with the words ‘Colour is …’ are projected in a continuously changing colour-saturated space.

Additional material from Batchelor’s archive, including numerous preparatory sketches and notebooks, will be displayed throughout the exhibition, shedding light on his working methods and sources of inspiration.

https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/34145