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In 1950 an exhibition titled Black or White was held at Kootz Gallery, New York . lt included avant-garde American and European artists who were little-known at the time, but who would soon become eminent in the field of both abstract and figurative expressionism-Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, Adolph Gottlieb and Jean Du buffet. As an explanation for the restricted theme of the show, Motherwell wrote in the preface for the exhibition catalogue: '[t]here is so much to be seen in a work of art, so much to say if one is concrete and accurate, that it is a relief to deal on occasion with a simple relation. Yet not even it, no more than any other relation in art, is so simple .'1 Limiting the palette to a dramatic extent allowed these artists to pare down the complexities of painting to explore new areas. As Thomas B. Hess stated, 'the decision to use only black and white brings [for the artist] an exhilarating sense of the tabula rasa to a traditionally overcomplicated craft'.2
In Nick Ash by's recent series of works titled Red and White Paintings, he has similarly reduced his usually full palette to two colours (with the exception of a few glimpses of pale blue and tiny flashes of colour from previous layers). This limitation of colour has enabled a more concentrated working (and reworking) of the composition. The emphasis on linear structures and restricted palette results in a visually coherent group of paintings that exhibit a refined vocabulary of abstract marks and gestures.
The idea of the tabula rasa or 'clean state' is contrary to Ashby's vigorous painterly style. lt is not so much a 'clean'