One-man exhibition by Philip Trusttum

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32848, 23 February 1972, Page 20

One-man exhibition by Philip Trusttum

A one-man exhibition of work by the Christchurch artist, Philip Trusttum, being held in the downstairs gallery of the Canterbury Society of Arts building, is the first important showing of his work in the city for some time. In recent years Philip Trusttum has been widely acclaimed as a painter of large expressive paintings remarkable for their controlled complex paint textures and variety of mood. Part of this exhibition, however, marks a change of approach in Trusttum’s work. “Shoulder High,” “Bicycle Clown,” “Holy Cow,” “Black Flag," “Argue,” “Zig” and

i “Zag,” are all works produced ■ by the more-or-less traditional means of applying pajnt to board or canvas. The style of painting varies in this group, “Shoulder High,” “Bicycle Clown,” and “Holy Cow” being painted in thick swirling, at times violent movements of primary colours that appear to belong to a much earlier period of the artist’s work. The carefully worked surfaces of “Black Flag,” “Zig” and “Zag” relate more in technique and composition to his method of painting in the last two or three years. DIFFERENT CHAPTER It is with entries such as “Aftermath,” “Container,” “Klu Klux Klan,” “Wee Little Indian,” “Inverted Nipple,” “Side Walls” and “Chair,” that Philip Trusttum opens a different chapter in his work. In these works he has moved into the area of threedimensional assemblages in a way that is unsculptural, sometimes whimsical but difficult to accept in conventional painting terms. Found objects such as a hat, a feather, a table, a chair, screens, an old coat, pieces of mirror, wire, insulating material, cotton wool, pins, tubes of paint, beads, pastels and many others feature in arrangements that include painted panels, shapes modelled in plasticine and paper mache, dyed cloth, string, and plastic bags filled with water. I In No. 14, "Container,” I various elements are enclosed lin a box structure making an intimate setting into which ■the viewer has to peer and probe for each new sensation. In “Aftermath,” No. 13 by contrast is a more openly conceived arrangement that can be viewed in major part from any direction. There is a pulsating energy in all the assembled pieces, combined with aggressiveness which suggests this work is an attempt on Trusttum’s part to rid himself of any sophistication by restoring to methods of assembly that are crude to the point of being primitive. If this is so, he has been successful in his attempt, but in doing so he has created works that are almost a negation of all his previous endeavours. Some small paintings and a number of drawing are included in the exhibition which will remain open until February 29. —G.T.M.