Art seen: November 19

“Daisy Bouquet”, by Annie Nevin
“Daisy Bouquet”, by Annie Nevin

''Pick Up Six'' (Moray Gallery)

''Pick up six'' draws together the work of three local artists at the Moray Gallery.

Annie Nevin's work, with its still-life depictions of flowers, lies at one end of the group's spectrum, and Robert West's abstract constructions lie at the other, yet this dichotomy of styles is nicely bridged by the works of John Z Robinson.

West's images more often than not make use of an assemblage of rounded or blocky forms, each playing off each other and usually connected by thin lines (some drawn, some of real thread).

The pieces have the appearance of collage, and work through their playfulness and colour.

Surprisingly, realism has crept into one or two of his works in this display, most notably Walking Lady.

Walking Lady finds reflection and companion is some of Robinson's wilfully bright expressionist nudes.

These use the same palette of cyans and pinks as his smaller still-life pieces, several of which are poignantly dwarfed by their strong, wooden frames.

Robinson also presents a series of fine, delicately toned lino prints.

Directly across from Robinson's wonderful outlandish blooms sit the more realistic yet complementary flower displays of Nevin.

These are delicate, yet beautifully painted, providing warmth and calm in pieces such as Daisy Bouquet and Roses in Pot.


 

“Split Season”, by Cobi Taylor
“Split Season”, by Cobi Taylor

''Dromos'', Cobi Taylor (State of Princes Gallery)

State of Princes is currently showing the debut solo exhibition from artist Cobi Taylor, ''Dromos''.

The display consists of several large dark abstract works, accompanied by two smaller pieces in the same vein.

The works are mixed media, making great use of Indian ink, over which acrylic, latex, and glue have been employed, occasionally accompanied by found materials.

The works are intriguing for their great depth; though the surfaces are largely a lustrous charcoal black, they are overlaid with a series of lighter markings, many of them forming perspective rays and grid-like patterns.

These rays are not entirely regular, and are interspersed with other shafts of muted colour.

The heavy boards which form the bases for the pieces are distressed and scored.

The resultant images simultaneously appear flat (due to the heavily worked surfaces) and three-dimensional (due to the grid-like markings).

The eyes are drawn to wander down through the shadowy depths and forms of these sombre, austere images, yet our minds are simultaneously aware that these depths are an illusion.

It is the larger works in particular where this cognitive dissonance is at its most powerful, producing effective results in pieces such as Sew Time Shut and Split Season.


 

“2:35 becomes 2:50”, by Tim Player
“2:35 becomes 2:50”, by Tim Player

''Live at the Slipping Fan Belt'', Tim Player (Blue Oyster Art Space)

Tim Player's exhibition at the Blue Oyster Art Space initially seems hard to comprehend.

Its series of photographs and video installation leave much to the imagination but provide little as a solid base from which to form any thoughts.

This, however, is solely because of the nature of the exhibition.

It is art seen at second hand: a record and description of performance, and as such, it is like viewing a still photograph of a concert.

We get the image, but not the sound, action, or atmosphere.

Player's exhibition comprises a series of photographs based on one series of street events (Propping and Leaning and Waiting), and a dual-screen video of the artist walking around the streets of Dunedin (Xam is My Man), in which we accompany Player in our minds on his psychogeographical drift.

Our one-step remove from the action is not critical.

As work that is primarily conceptual, it is the idea and thought that is as important as its actual presentation.

We receive a catalogue or journal of events as they took place. We are able to - forced to - re-create for ourselves much of what has taken place, and it is this opening up of our imaginative powers that forms the heart of the two works.

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