Art Hardly hypnotised
Evan Anthony
If I could read German, perhaps the catalogue notes for Horst Antes's exhibition at Gimpel Fils would clue me in sufficiently to, if not share altogether, at least respect his obsession with Mussolinilike heads with long, flattened noses and single staring eyes. These, in fact, appear in all his pictures, and will either strike you as disconcerting or make you giggle. The style is cubist-surrealist, I suppose — quite Legeresque in form and colour, with a perspective that could be described as bastardised Egyptian. Solid limbs and occasionally foreshortened arms serve as trunks to fingers and toes that are usually parallel. The application of paint itself is a bit crude and I fear I didn't find the assorted poses as intriguing as intended. One or two have a peculiar, individual appeal, but that single beady eye never really hypnotised me.
Come to that, I wasn't much hypnotised by Gordon Davies's pictures at the Waterhouse Gallery in Sussex Place. Davies paints realistically, and somewhat romantically. The skill is undoubtedly there, but as an exhibition greater restraint in the selection could have helped. Along with scenes of Rome and Venice are bluebells and seashells and even a doll. A few of the smaller pictures have a charm that should appeal, but there is an exeess of earnestness and not enough individuality.
At the risk of being accused of being the Serpentine Gallery's court critic, I have to confess to having gone there yet again. But it is a venture to be encouraged. This time there are twenty-six young artists being presented: in a gallery that doesn't take a commission, the prices are quite reasonable; and there are at least three artists whose work interested me. David Pearson has
produced a series of drypoints that is worth looking at. The method is richly used, particularly in the Daubigny's Garden' pictures. Robert Mason's mixed media assemblages are among the finest things I've seen in a long time. grid while the notion of "the confton and deterioration " of the East End serving as a "source for an abundance of ideas" is a romantic 'recycling' of Urban decay, Mason has obviously used his material most successfully. Julia Farrer's etchings are clinical and clever. A number of other contributions you will undoubtedly like.
The DM Gallery in Fulham
Road, boasts a 'Young Painters' exhibition, includes about a dozen pictures, of which the best are Hugh O'Donnell's large abstractions: hardly shown to advantage in the tiny space, but they are well-painted and still manage to
• interest after close examination.
, Robert Radcliffe is represented by realistic urban and rural scenes, which are deliberately (I take it) dismal and grey, all grime and gloom. John Rogers paints from photographs and, while tech
, nically capable, is a bit too reminiscent of others who have come before to make a great impression. It's the school of painting, rather than this particular artist, I find at fault.
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