Bob Law
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Bob Law | |
|---|---|
 Part of Number 88, Black/Black/Blue/Violet, 1974. Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. | |
| Born | 22 January 1934 Middlesex, England |
| Died | 17 April 2004 (aged 70) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Abstract expressionism, color field painting, sculpture |
Bob Law (22 January 1934 – 17 April 2004) was a British painter and sculptor.[1] A prolific artist throughout his lifetime, Law struggled with ideas surrounding the legitimacy and significance of abstract art.
Law was born in Middlesex, England on 22 January 1934, and moved to St Ives in 1957 where he painted and made pots. He had been particularly influenced by meetings with Peter Lanyon and Ben Nicholson in the late 1950s. In 1960, Bob Law moved away from Cornwall.
Bob Law's artistic career started in the late 1950s when he moved to St.Ives. Inspired by the landscape, these seemingly simple outlines around the perimeter of the paper lead to a minimalist exploration of lines, shapes and forms. He was influenced in this direction by his discovery of the abstract paintings of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko that he saw in 1959 at the Tate Gallery.[1] Law then went on to make a series of black paintings out of different combinations of dark colours that were exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford in 1974.
He took up sculpture in the 1970s, which extended and expanded his oeuvre.
He returned to live in the west of Cornwall in 1997 and died in April 2004.
