Here is an artist dealing with the free-for-all that is the postmodern enterprise and digging deep to reconcile some of its thoughts with those of (almost) art’s archaeological history.
The themes of womanhood, birth and creative nature run through her work like a river, an analogy she would probably relish.
The Terracotta style colours redolent of Lascaux cave paintings, the merging of animal and human forms bringing to centre stage the spiritual, almost pure, affinity between animals, humans and the womb.
There are times when dealing with the history and adding in the post modern spin left her with an unsatisfactory result (Horse Consciousness makes a Cradle) and Chagall moments of impossible balancing acts, but there is no humour in this work. Here we have a female artist putting the feminine at the centre of experience, not herself. The thinking is to move beyond postmodernism and re-engage with art history. Starting with cave paintings, the shaman like quality of human/animal interactions and Scottish islands might be too far for some to go back but it is certainly going back to the beginning of painting. The result here is engaging if at times the attempt gives away its method too readily – as with the paintings over pages of a Sanskrit dictionary. I look forward to seeing this artist’s next show.
‘IONA NOTEBOOKS’ Island Paintings, Drawings and Writings
KATE WALTERS My 8th – May 29th Terre Verte Art Gallery, Altarnun, Cornwall. Price range £350-£3,000
Daniel Nanavati