Review from The Art Life In its last few days is Slowly, Slowly at Kudos Gallery in Paddington. Featuring the work of Marisa Purcell, Alexandra Noble, Melinda Schawel, Jacqueline Belcher and Anna Lisa Backlund , it's an intriguing show of abstract painting, semi-abstract works and illustration. By far the most interesting works for us were those by Purcell, a painter working in oils whose ghostly images skirt figuration in a style we have decided to call The New Irrealism [for more on this, please check out the forthcoming issue of Runway which features a small article on this and other recent painting by The Art Life]. Briefly, New Irrealism is an approach to painting that is decidedly low key, deploying its effects without histrionic showmanship, while creating an eerie other world of ghostly images and abstract washes. Purcell, we have decided, is one of the key artists of this mini-moment and we love her work. Noble's works are also abstract, put together with fabric spots on paper, and create an odd continuity to Purcell's painting. There's an essay or perhaps a book to be written on the dot in art, from Georges Seurat to Yayoi Kusam a to Indigenous art to a chapter at the end on Noble, because, well, it's out there. Noble's works stretch out along one side of the gallery, hot pink and blue dots on white paper, ending up at some sculptures called Lucky Lakshmi & You which are beautifully balanced cones of pigment on chinaware. Like the works down at Oxley, it seems to make an implicit sort of sense that says - this looks really good - and you have to agree. Not as convincing are the works of Schawel, a perfectly presentable series of mixed media works on wood, but they lack a certain je ne sais quoi to lift them out of the ordinary. In complete contrast, Belcher's works have a wow factor that is a real wow - you think, how the hell did she do them? Using cut paper, the artist has created mind-bendingly intricate patterns of swirling leaf shapes that spiral out from the centre of the page. In these works - like the cut paper works of Sangeeta Sandrasegar and Gary Carsley - it's all about the shadow. Exacting, perfectly executed and pristine, Belcher's works are things of wonder. Backlund was one of the very first artists to have show reviewed here at The Art Life and it was with interest that we went to Slowly, Slowly to see what she was up to. In 2004, the artist was doing hard edge abstracts on canvas. Two years later it feels like the work of a different artist. Her works for this show are illustrative works done, we're guessing, with a computer and remind us of something so primal it scares us. So let's end with a very short story: You are 12 years old and you have just moved with your family into a new house. The cold rooms are mostly empty, just a few beds set up in the bedrooms and your clothes are hanging in a dusty wardrobe. You try to go to sleep. Your older brother stays awake late into the night reading a novel with the harsh overhead light beaming down. You can't sleep. Maybe a migraine is on the way. Your mouth is dry and there may be sand in the bed. On the wall, right next to your pillow, is some wallpaper with images of old aircraft, toy soldiers, racing cars, teddy bears and chess pieces. It's all a bit like the kind of thing you see on the birthday cards your elderly relatives give you every year, images from a childhood better suited to 1945. You reach out and, with a finger nail, cut into the face of a toy solider. Working a finger under the paper, you tear off his stupid face. It might take years to completely fuck up this wallpaper, but it's a job you're more than ready for. |
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Slowly, Slowly
January 2006, Kudos Gallery, Sydney
(group show)