This oval painting suggests space in which emotion is contained, a signature format for this abstract artist. Radiating colour emits an aura of intensity and physical energy, countered by rectangular shapes evoking order and balance. With its colour field of rich tones and underlying theme of emotion, this work reaches out to the viewer; the colour, form, gesture and idea all mixing to create a unified expression.

Gretchen Albrecht graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 1963. In 1981 she was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship at the University of Otago. Albrecht has exhibited in New Zealand and internationally for more than 35 years. Her recent work has appeared in exhibitions in both Europe and the United States, including the exhibition Decades at the Robert Steele Gallery in New York. A retrospective exhibition of oval and hemisphere paintings, accompanied by recent works on paper and editions, was shown at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and City Gallery Wellington in 2005.