Vanishing Point

“Vanishing Point” is a heavily textured mixed media abstract painting by Kathryn Gruber.

This striking piece draws the eye upward and inward, with tall cream and white impasto forms rising from a turbulent, dark lower half — deep blacks, rich teals, and bursts of red and purple surging beneath like something barely contained. A sinuous vine-like mark in warm brown and purple winds its way through the centre of the composition, connecting the chaos below to the quieter, more luminous passages above. Fine scratched lines radiate outward from a central focal point, adding a sense of tension and convergence — as though all energy in the painting is being drawn toward a single, disappearing place.

The upper half breathes with soft cream, beige, and ochre, heavily worked with a palette knife and layered with visible texture and scraping. The lower half is raw and gestural — sweeping arcs of red oil stick, tangled purple marks, and glimpses of teal and gold emerging from the darkness. The overall effect is one of contrast and movement: light reaching upward, depth pulling down, and somewhere between them, a vanishing point.
“Vanishing Point” is a companion piece to Bull at a Gate, and the two share a rustic, forceful energy — rugged in surface, deeply felt in mood.