Sun Grille is a bold, reductive abstract work composed of intensely coloured, vertical lines, laid down quickly and decisively against a white ground on raw canvas. This sophisticated work was made with everyday materials: specifically, acrylic paint applied with a roller and spray paint purchased from the local hardware store. Blurred lines made by the act of spray painting breathe and vibrate against the white ground of the picture plane. The eye skates across the surface, evaluating the pulsating primary colours, the spaces in between and the fractional variance in line width. Scott achieved this delicate variance by intuitively adjusting the height at which the spray can was positioned above the canvas. The work is a not purely abstract, it is infused with Scott’s lifelong affection for the New Zealand landscape and his search for a meaningful way in which to depict it in a manner that was challenging and new. It was a response to his immediate environment, which at the time was Sunnyvale, West Auckland in the 1970s. The glare of the summer sun, mid-1970s West Auckland, apple orchards, bright green grass, freshly painted weatherboard houses, sand, surf and sensuality are palpably present in these perpendicular bars of light. The Sprayed Stripes series (1973– 75) was first exhibited at Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington, in 1974, then at Petar/James Gallery in Auckland in 1975. This series comes after Scott’s 1960s’ pop culture Girlie series and was a precursor to his seminal Lattice paintings.

Artist’s Collection Private Collection, Auckland Collection of Peter Jarvis & Helene Phillips, Mossgreen Webb’s 30/11/2017