Panel Discussions
Notes on Colour
Vicken Parsons, David Batchelor and Jeff McMillan in conversation.
Join three leading figures in contemporary art for an evening of conversation, reflection, and fresh ways of thinking about colour, form, and making.
Vicken Parsons, David Batchelor, and Jeff McMillan come together in a rare public discussion, chaired by Richard Calvocoressi CBE. While their work takes very different forms, all three share a long and thoughtful engagement with colour and what it can do. How it shapes space, how it carries feeling, and how it connects to the material world.
Vicken Parsons was born in Hertfordshire in 1957 and studied at the Slade School of Fine Art. She makes small, intimate paintings on plywood panels using thin layers of oil paint, alongside a series of three dimensional works known as Painted Objects. Her paintings often begin with architecture or landscape, but are ultimately concerned with space and light. She has exhibited widely in the UK and Europe, and her work is held in major public collections including Tate, the Government Art Collection, the Belvedere in Vienna, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Museum Voorlinden, and the Arts Council Collection.
David Batchelor, born in Dundee in 1955, is an artist and writer based in London. For over three decades his work has explored colour in relation to modern urban life and its place within Western cultural thought. His practice spans sculpture, installation, painting, photography and more, and he has exhibited internationally across Europe, the Americas and beyond. Alongside his visual work, his writing has been widely influential, particularly his book Chromophobia and later publications on colour.
Jeff McMillan, born in Texas in 1968 and based in London since 1998, approaches painting through material and process, often working with found or reused elements. His work carries traces of time and handling, with surfaces that are layered, weathered, or reworked. He has exhibited internationally, with recent solo shows in Madrid and Ghent, and his work is held in collections including Tate, the Whitworth in Manchester, Museum Voorlinden, and the San Antonio Museum of Art. He has also held residencies such as the Headlands Center for the Arts in California and the British School at Rome.
The conversation will be guided by Richard Calvocoressi, a Fellow at Magdalene College and a widely respected curator, writer, and former museum director. His long career spans the Tate, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Henry Moore Foundation, and he brings a deep knowledge of artists’ work and the contexts around it.
Together, they will talk about their own practices, where they overlap, and where they diverge. The discussion will move between personal insight and broader questions, offering a chance to think again about colour and its place in contemporary art.
Registration
The event is free and open to all. Registration is essential; please register via the link below.
Location
Cripps Auditorium, Cripps Court, 3 Chesterton Road, Cambridge CB4 3AD