Mosaic Relief III

Mosaic Relief III is one of at least seven reliefs in a series that John Ernest began in 1960, using the square and the right-angle isosceles triangle as basic units. [1] The relief is based on a rigid grid system which limits the possibilities that can be achieved using these units. Within these self-imposed restrictions, Ernest introduces variations of colour, shape, relief and surface to create a dynamic arrangement that deliberately unsettles the viewer’s perception of the work.

Ernest was committed to exploring the potential of non-figurative art and was part of an informal network of artists associated with British Constructivism. He was fascinated by parallels between the rules of geometry and the new ways that artists were engaging with abstract spatial relationships. Writing in 1961 about his interest in mathematical concepts and systems, he described ‘trying to achieve some of the beauty of a formal mathematical system in a visual experience’.[2]

The Mosaic Relief series was closely related to this process, as Ernest described in a letter to the Tate Gallery in 1967:

‘The mosaic relief form grew directly out of my interest in devising visual analogies for abstract or conceptual structures – usually mathematical. In 1959 I discovered a method for portraying “Group” tables on which I based a number of maquettes. In these the visual structure corresponded precisely with particular mathematical structures. Later I rejected these objects (which were lost or destroyed) because of views I held at the time as to the relations between art works and models. Nevertheless Mosaic 1 grew directly from secondary attributes of these analogues. The two principle ideas involved in No1, as well as the others in the series are:

1: The limitations of choice imposed by the restriction to a fixed number of possibilities within a grid system.

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