bleach work early 1987-Peter P. Hopkins

Early Bleach Paintings
1987-1989

In the same period that I was using perfume as a paint substitute, I was also experimenting with bleach as an agent in my work. Bleach,
as it relates to painting is perhaps the most fundamentally antogonistic
material possible. In even small amounts it damages the fibers of both linen or canvas, and if not subtly controlled would quickly destroy the "painting" that I was working on. However, after many failed attempts
I learned that if the proper bleach solution were held in some balance with certain other mediums the result could produce a ghostlike
shadow of painting that left an eerie trace record of it's violent alchemical activity. Acting like an x-ray of a real painting, it both cleaned the surface of meaning, but also like perfume, left behind a quiet reminder that what had once been there, was now gone.

Bleach Site: Untitled (Dot Death)
Bleach on Linen, 72" x 72"
1987

This was the first work in bleach and signaled the death of my "dot" paintings