"Palm House"
Jewelery enamel on steel-1300 x 1600 mm
This mural is one of three which hang on a staircase at the Royal Free Hospital in London, one on
each landing. The idea is to show some similarities between the architecture of plants and the
architecture of buildings. More than that, these murals are about the composition of the colours of
the background and the composition of objects in space.
The
colours of the background make a composition based only on colour.
In the background, colours progress from white, near the central focal
point, through pinks and mauves and then on into the blues, growing ever
darker towards the left and right hand sides of the mural. This surrounding
of the light areas by the dark blues serves to contain the composition.
Spacially, the arching forms of the white ribs which make up the structure
of the roof of the Palm House appear to come forward and then swing outward
across the surface of the panels. The directions of these curving lines are
picked up by the stems of the plants so thatt the eye of the viewer is
conducted on a tour of the whole mural. The leaves of the palms provide
rhythmic accents and local colour fields functioning as diversions from the
basic green of the plants.
In general the colours of the leaves progress from the varied pastels with
white highlights which occur in the centre of the image, through bright
greens and on to subdued darker greens resting in the deep blues of the
background. The dark leaves in the foreground act as an accent, all the
more striking for being back lit by the white focal point.
Pat Johnson © 1997-2007
