Exposed Painting Charcoal Black on Black demonstrates the conceptual rigor and a delicacy of touch that Callum Innes brings to his process-based abstractions. Innes began this canvas by laying down a white primer, and then bisecting the canvas with a single broad, black band of paint. He then “unpainted” the left half of the black band, brushing on a layer of turpentine that dissolved the top coat of pigment, which then flowed down. As a result, Innes reveals the warmer charcoal-toned hues buried within the seemingly monochromatic palette, imbuing the overall composition with an inner light.