Since his visit to Australia in 1973, from which emerged a series of rectangular graphite paper cut-outs, the fundamental concept of Tremlett's work has remained unchanged. He speaks of himself as a sculptor and treats the flat two dimensional shapes in his drawings as though they were sculptural volumes. His palette is restricted to earth colours, while shapes and neatly lettered words are moulded into the pastel backgrounds. He achieves a total integration of form and colour by inverting the traditional concept of sculpture as a three-dimensional art form. The basic principle of the drawings made directly onto the wall is that the wall itself becomes the sculpture. Most of the work in this latest exhibition is based on the artist's memories of recent visits to Africa and Mexico. Tremlett describes his attraction to the simple lifestyles of those countries; a simplicity that is inherent to his work. Geographic and architectural motifs are documented in a few simple lines in a notebook, later to be enlarged in pastel, either onto paper in the studio or directly onto the gallery wall.
In the new works on paper, Tremlett continues to extend his inversion of sculptural concepts through use of the written word. The central abstract forms are surrounded by words which particularise features or objects remembered in connection to the place portrayed. The four nouns which make up the title of Table – Floor – Wall – Drawing (1987) each occupy one edge of the work. Visually peripheral, yet psychologically dominant, the words have been transformed from abstract symbols into concise lingual signposts which serve to involve the viewer in the process of re-creating a particular situation or location.
Tremlett's integration