GEORGINA COBURN examines new directions in the work of both artists

THIS exhibition represents a period of experimentation in the work of Highland based artists Fiona Matheson and Clare Blois. Whilst there is evidence of both artists’ signature treatment of landscape, there is also a wider investigation of technique at play which may prove a precursor to significant creative development in the future.

It is the potential for artistic evolution which the show’s title aptly celebrates, rather than a body of work from either artist that fully embraces this idea. There are some fine pieces from both artists, particularly from Blois whose investigation into the plastic elements of image making bodes well for the development of a significant solo statement in future.

However, it is difficult in a gallery space filled with so much varied work for the audience to coherently view a two handed show to the equal benefit of both artists. A central space perhaps works best in order for a strong visual statement to emerge. With Blois’s work in particular relegated to broken outskirts of the exhibition space, a series of very interesting developments in her practice are in danger of not being fully appreciated due to the mode of presentation. While this period of development may not command a central space, what emerges out of it certainly should.

Seeds Of Change (Oil on canvas) by Blois is a foray into a more abstract interpretation of the landscape in steely blue, Naples yellow and ochre, with accents of cadmium red under-painting allowed to emerge from the energetic impasto of sky and rock face. Investigation of colour and paint handling are at the heart of this period of exploration.

Summer Skies (Oil) feels very much like the beginning of movement away from the safe depiction of a scene into use of pure colour as a means of expression. The colour relationships here are wholly intense and potentially complex – under a strong ultramarine sky, fields are defined by hues representative of a variation of temperatures.

The intensity of yellow, for example, ranges from the warmth of Naples yellow and the heat of cadmium through to the greenish acidity of lemon. Similarly, use of pure red is tempered by adjacent hues. Pure colour out of the tube has the potential to be emotionally altered in dialogue with the rest of the palette, and this work seems like a starting point to actively testing the boundaries of the individual artist’s visual language.

Although there is hesitancy, a reliance on an established base palette, there is also enormous potential in the methodology to work with the expressive qualities of colour in a new way.

This is also true of a work such as Dappled Night (Oil), though relating more specifically to the artist’s paint handling and treatment of mark. In this work, expectation of colour is reversed – red becomes dominant over and above the nocturnal suggestion of deep ultramarine blue. It is, however, treatment of mark from the base of the foreground moving progressively upwards into the sky that defines and expands the concept of space and creates depth in the work.

This burgeoning technique opens up new possibilities in Blois’s work. Stippled vertical brushwork in the foreground brings this section foreword for the viewer, whilst the mid-ground and sky are opened out, receding into the distance not by traditional perspective or by a representational view of the landscape, but by the size and treatment of brush and palette knife mark.

If this experimentation with mark and colour can be brought to bear in future work, it will certainly add depth and dimension regardless of whether the work is abstract or representational. Playing with the base elements of image making – colour, form, line and tone – will only make composition stronger; removal of subject matter actively intensifies this process.

While works such as Summer Skies and Dappled Night feel like works in progress in comparison to pieces such as First Light, they are an exciting precursor to artistic evolution to come.

Fiona Matheson’s work in mixed media is represented in a variety of scales with two of the strongest works, Breaking The Horizon and Spring Tide Dornoch Beach in large scale square format. Smaller more experimental works derived from the landscape, such as Tide Out and Red Beach, led by a layering of pigment and media, represent less of a reliance on signature style, of texture overlaid on a Highland scene.

Enabling the multilayered technique to sculpt or suggest the landscape in a way that is less predictable signifies the potential for heightened imaginative engagement for both artist and audience. Fluidity of media, the reaction of surface textures with pigment resulting in accidental mark gives fresh energy and impetus to this series of modest scale exploratory works.

Works in black and white such as Frosted Furrows provide an interesting counterpoint in their pared down palette and delicacy of stitched mark used as a drawing technique.

The artist’s background in Constructed Textiles has perhaps also contributed to the textural sensibility of her work. This quality is something which is not communicated by the quality of giglee prints of Matheson’s work, such as Before Breakfast Portree, displayed with original work such as Foulis Ferry From Culbokie, curiously priced to the same value. The artist needs to seriously consider whether a reproduction of her work is of equal value to an original of roughly equal dimensions, and whether such reproduction of her work is the best ambassador for it in terms of promotion.

Although there is commercial pressure amongst painters of landscape to chase a narrowly perceived tourist trade in Highland scenes, pitching original and reproduction work by the same artist at the same level sends entirely the wrong message. Artists have a responsibility to set the value of their work and in turn influence public perception and reception of that work within the marketplace.

A short term gain due to reproduction printing may not represent long term sustainability if the artist’s work is not best represented by reproduction in the first place. Before jumping on the giglee bandwagon an artist needs to assess whether this mode of presentation best represents their intent and has integrity in the wider context of their practice.

Seeds Of Change signifies an opportunity for both artists to challenge themselves and their audience in the future based on a new spirit of enquiry and experimentation present in current work. It remains to be seen whether this creative trajectory will be governed by product or process.

© Georgina Coburn, 2010

Links

• Tore Gallery