(Dis)Placements: Corner Locus, No. 1

Nicole Charlett invites the space of the gallery into her compositions through unframed groups of canvases comprising a single work. (Dis)Placements: Corner Locus No.1, is a triptych of three canvases, each of different proportions and divided by different colour combinations. They are to be displayed at a 90 degree angle, with the largest panel on the left placed 30cm away from the corner, with the second two panels on the facing wall, 20cm away from the corner and with 10cm between them. Charlett described the spaces between the work as integral to the work as the painted parts. [1]

Although the panels are different widths, they are each the same height, providing a consistent horizontal line. Each panel is divided vertically by sections of harmonious colour so the wall between each panel forms part of the horizontal stripes. Each canvas contains a completely different tonal range, with black, white and peach on the left panel, greys on the central panel and greens on the right.

Charlett was part of Countervail, a group of women constructivist artists founded by sociologist Elizabeth Chaplin and artist Jean Spencer. The group aimed to disrupt the view that the constructivist tradition was masculine. Like Charlett, many in the group showed groups of unframed canvases to integrate the work in the space. In the exhibition catalogue to the Countervail exhibition at Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield in 1992, Charlett wrote of her (Dis)Placements series:

Painted panels of different widths are interspaced with measured intervals of wall space; the ‘inter’ or ‘between’ enabling some understanding of the position of separate panels in relation to others, and at the same time, being the result of their displacement. The separateness of panels highlights a notion that relations are not absolute or fixed to any one setting. [2]

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