Page 52 - Studio International - April 1972

textures is interesting. By means of a kind of
divisionism and a consistent but variable
arrangement of the small modular elements, his
forms neither describe nor define the material
plane on which they lie; nor do they float in an
illusion in shallow space. Flat but disembodied,
they seem to exist in a spatial no-man's land.
But in the last resort the exhibition was not
a success. In order to neutralize the finite canvas
on the gallery wall, Mundy has had to develop
a devious programme of checks and controls.
As with the behaviourist with his rats and
monkeys, one's attention was caught not so
much by the experiment itself as by the
difficulties he has had in setting it up.
There was little difficulty in coming to grips
with Brendan Neiland's exhibition (ANGELA
FLOWERS GALLERY, 15 February to 10 March).
He is a young artist who as a student recorded
pieces of machinery and other industrial
products, while they were brand new and still
in the factory. He developed a painting
technique based on the air-brush and spray gun
which he still uses.
After setting his figures against vaguely
figurative backgrounds—skies and the like—he
went on to experiment with reflective surfaces,
in particular painted car bodyworks. These
turned out to be rich enough in themselves and it
became unnecessary to place objects in front
of them. The paintings on display are long fluid
compositions based on photographs. In Blue
Panel Neiland luxuriates in the brilliant blues of
a cloudless sky; in fact the colours are too
luscious and self-indulgent. City Bonnet is a
later work; a disciplined palette co-operates
now with a more sophisticated compositional
structure. Also, the environment which is
he turns his attention to analysing their altogether. For one thing his canvases are not mirrored in the paint is not a facile, pastoral
structure —and it does feel like a second step —he glamorous but tactful and muted. After his scene but an urban landscape; instead of being
finds that it is comparatively simple. A surplus collage period ended about five years ago, he a personable pretext, the surrounding space is a
of colour suggestiveness is, so to speak, left began to occupy himself with an increasingly real, if indirect, presence.
over with little to do except to beguile. particularized problem —how to treat a surface Neiland's spray technique is a neat, visual
Henry Mundy (at the KASMIN GALLERY from without destroying its integrity. He wanted to analogy to the shiny, continuous surfaces of a
9 February to 4 March) is a different case eliminate the picture as an object. motor car, but in fact it has very different
His compositions are frontal grids or properties. The subtle tonal shifts he achieves
fragments of grids which are covered with an have a mistiness and depth which the two-
even, intricate network of small diagonal or dimensional illusionism of gloss paint does not
vertical /horizontal crosses. They only make possess.
formal sense when they are imaginatively Together with the enlargement in scale in
extended beyond the picture plane. In Texture his canvases, the air-brush gives Neiland the
Drop Change, for example, it takes some time chance to transform the literalness of his source
to realize that an apparently disorganized material, while retaining a structural undertow
collection of rectangles is a detail of a much of figuration. It is a delicate and critical
larger pattern descending diagonally from left accomplishment, which depends partly on the
to right. fortuitous richness of his theme and partly on
Not satisfied with this, Mundy also avoids good painting.
painting up to the edges of the canvas. This is Neiland operates inside a well-established
to show that it is no more than a convenient tradition, rather than testing or extending it.
surface for an incomplete design. In fact, the Some young artists, on the other hand, are
device achieves the opposite of what is intended, uncomfortably aware of the alienation of the
for a strong decorative relation comes into play art world from its social setting and the
between the corroded edge of the image and the contradictions which this imposes on their
clean lines of the picture plane. This effectively work—in particular the disjunction between a
creates a border which contradicts the extension recondite aesthetic and direct, sensuous
implied by the partial grids. experience. Brower Hatcher, a young American
In itself Mundy's treatment of surface sculptor (who opened at KASMIN GALLERY on
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