“Deconstructed Action Painting (warm) 2026”
Acrylic paint, plastic bag, marker pen
15 x 17 cm
Number in edition to be determined at end of sale window.
Time-limited edition 72 hours
The sale window will open on Monday 9th Feb at 8pm GMT and will close at 8pm on Thursday 12th Feb.
At the end of the period the total number of works sold will be created and the edition will be closed.
Please note - each painting will be unique. Images shown are for illustrative purposes only. Your piece will be painted in a warm colour palette (reds, yellows and oranges)
Shipping estimated 15th March - 30th March 2026
About the work
In these works, the gesture of action painting is preserved but displaced. The splat, drip, and flick remain visible as records of movement, speed, and decision, yet they are no longer fixed to a canvas. What was once an expressive act stretched across a surface is gathered, contained, and held.
The action still exists, but it has been paused. The paint carries the memory of its making, the swing of an arm, the release of control, the moment when gravity takes over. Removed from its traditional support, the gesture becomes an object rather than an image. The drama of the mark is reduced to matter.
By placing the paint inside a simple zip-lock bag, Semple shifts painting from performance to artefact. The bag acts as both frame and container, collapsing the distance between artwork, residue, and evidence. What remains is not a depiction, but a physical trace of action itself.
Humour runs quietly through the work. The heroic scale and seriousness associated with action painting is gently punctured, replaced by something domestic, provisional, and strangely intimate. The painting is no longer something to stand in front of, but something that could be held.
In this way, the work asks what painting is once the surface is removed. Is it the image, the gesture, the material, or the act? Here, painting becomes all of these at once, reduced to its simplest form while still carrying the weight of its history.
Edition details
Dimensions
15 x 17 cm
Medium
Each work contains a unique variety of drips, flicks and splats made with acrylic paint.
These are then arranged inside a plastic zip lock bag. Each is then hand labled with marker by the artist and signed and numbered.
Authentication
Signed by the artist. Individually numbered.
Release date
February 06, 2026
Number in Edition
To be determined by the number sold during the 72 hour sale window.