Art
Two to remember
Evan Anthony
It is unfortunate that you cannot now check the talents of David Pyke and John Abbott for yourselves, but I have little doubt that you will eventually be able to see their work on view for a longer period than was allotted to students taking their final examination in the School of 1)ainting at the Royal College of Art. I'd be very surprised if they both didn't pass with, as they say, flying colours.
Pyke is fond of the human figure, and on an academic level is already accomplished. The figure is used to examine unusual visual points of view. In lesser hands his pictures could become gimmicky, but this young artist is more than just a clever fellow: the ideas are bright, highly original, and splendidly carried out. In one painting which he describes as 'contained infinity,' the picture planes change as three people are captured painting one another painting one another and so on. In another, he has composed a very fine double vieW fi of ie George Jackson — a full face and prison picture — which would be atilia:i); fine were it a picture of Joe Smith 0'1,1 the idea ea of a mug shot never entere mind.nd d Y('' John Abbott's view of the W°rIii Hise cynical, mordant and bitterly amas1ng'501 catches people, warts and all, making —a, social comment and personalised obserr,tig tions at the same time, avoiding beimi hysterical or preachy as long as he ,ro-n be effectively disturbing. His perseP'its, directs attention to unexpected focal forcing the eyes to things they frequeri,st: avoid in life. I congratulate him on tic ing the temptation to paint surreal,It'ller images; the enigmatic quality is 11,e1„, of gratuitous nor contrived. One eaint1,°:eag a little girl with her knickers down, 'the a man in overcoat and gloves, ilas girl headless (the head gone off the 're, vas) and the man looming like a carili calo It is called Momma Told Me Not To Cgboll Yes, I laughed too, initially, but Ab,rigs, uses a delayed fuse in all his Paint:A" ianng a w d theoeuxnpdl.osive effects come later' 011110 , I think that John Baum and e— ffeet Cockrill are after some sort of shock 6,0 with the starkness of their pictures W"tis. strive to look like paintings of photog_ir/his They are on view at the newly-oarrl'Graf' Gallery (formerly the Portal GallerY), by ton Street. The two artists are linked,of I great similarity of style, both coraP'stir pictures of large, uncluttered ate35501) rounding a central figure (human orflg It is a style of painting which is beC'tistS, increasingly popular with young ,,arreablY and is not without appeal when irt'P'14at it executed, but anyone trying his ha ri: thal has to come up with something 111.°I.,4v ttig! an air of stillness to evoke a 111°°„,,„`" erio will attract the viewer. In Street Sc,,e"-„,ictill Girl With Tree Twice, Baum and (respectively) come close. el Sir Russell Drysdale is dead oLl the Leicester Galleries, Cork Street his burnt orange paintings and his „pet ings and watercolours of the env/11)10ot + and people who live in the great ,11,,tare5 of Australia. These are good, solid 1.1;010, — honest and sentimental and, awn.,5'01 lovable. Grandma's Sunday VIT:iitre5: 1 Grandma almost ten feet tall, is tiw-edS istible kind of folk picture that neff.Ite really formidable talent to bring it,°eifori' whole collection looks so beautiful'Y less: it's the way the man sees it tres for :1) The way the men imagine it n't2',Nard' a rather exotic exhibition at the riaJid eir The French Symbolist Painters sh°4stie.,„4 1)1 courage any artist feeling opPre:04 good taste. Why bother with anY'",0 plastic as high camp when you the whole hog and give vent to Yua 't, jos' tasies, illustrate your myths, and do°ii tice to your dreams? What a 0,111h11 collection of romance and rubb5,..fiflei'd' I stars of the show, Puvis de r,r-110',-, Odilon Redon and Gustave More0 the centre of the stage exceptionairollAY for me, Redon and Moreau are Part'e4 brilliant with their Turner coloalciee''' Bosch detailing. But Eugene soft-focus oils and Antonio de Is 04'4 co" exqutsite pencil Portrait of a Wen' also be counted among the treasure0,
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