Paintings by Brent Wong

Press, 31 August 1983, Page 25

Paintings by Brent Wong

Brent Wong. Paintings at the Brooke-Gifford Gallery until September 2, reviewed by John Hurrell. A North Island artist, Brent Wong, has been known for his own particular brand of surrealist photo-realist painting for some time, especially since his major touring exhibition in 1978.

Yet, of the sixteen works of hills and clouds presented at the Brooke-Gifford Gallery, very few could be labelled as "surrealist,” rather “photo realist.” However even this category can be seen as questionable. Especially interesting are six small studies, miniature paintings which Wong has used to test out decisions affecting composition, form, and colour in his larger final works. Previously he had worked from detailed black and white working drawings, but it seems he

felt that more useful information was retained through the use of coloured acrylic paint. Some of these studies make more impact than the larger works which are based on them. Changes in scale, and alterations in relative size of some of the various elements, often cause the finished products to lose the freshness and intensity present in the smaller work.

Strangely, the most intriguing painting is a small study showing an aerial view of jagged mountains and soft clouds. The profusion of carefully modelled irregular forms combines with the sunlight to present a grandeur that is highly reminiscent of Albrecht Altdorfer’s 1529 masterpiece “The Battle of Alexander.” This hint of northern European romanticism is rare in Wong’s work, which is

normally restrained in emotional undercurrents.

“View up the Road” is the most successful of the large works. It shows a very long road bridge surrounded by sea, going to a vanishing point on the horizon. The intensity of the blue ocean, the geometry of the actual road with its illusionistic use of perspective, and the positioning of a small cloud near the horizon, make this a compelling and enigmatic painting. Most of the other paintings, the landscapes with buildings and clouds, are not so successful. The hill forms often look peculiarly flat, with the light oddly affecting the tones at their edges. The landscape seems to lack substance, and most of the buildings look like cardboard cut-outs.

Indeed, some of the forms seem very stylised. The clouds appear pruned and

trim, as if air brushed through a stencil and done as an illustration for a magasine, and not as work by a landscape painter concerned with accuracy. While many of these paintings contain clouds which appear to be made of inflated rubber, there are some, showing clouds at dusk with the sunlight streaming through, that have a hazy romanticism and twilight charm. They are quite removed in atmosphere from the harshness of light normally associated with New Zealand land-

scape. These evocative works, like those others already mentioned, make this mixed exhibition finally worth while. They enable us to see aspects of Brent Wong’s method and sides of his aesthetic sensibility on disSin Christchurch for the time.