Richard Killeen

Press, 28 August 1984, Page 23

Richard Killeen

Richard Killeen. Works on Paper at the Brooke/Gifford Gallery until August 31. Reviewed by John Hurrell.

Eight of Killeen’s small paintings on paper are presented in the small room in the Brooke/Gifford Gallery. Executed with diluted acrylic, they look as if they were done with gouache, having the quality of opaque watercolours. One of these has been seen before from the “Chance and Inevitability” series. The other seven were done recently. These works show groups of images copied from his well-known “cut-out” paintings, of painted aluminium. What is interesting is the role they play in establishing a sense of how the images should be organised. Unlike the much larger metal paintings, which emphasise the inependence of each suspended shape, and the participation of the hanger in arranging the different elements on the wall, these works have no sense of randomness, and instead, emphasise the artist’s role in his own compositions. In other words, these works are a conspicious contradition of the “democratic” notions behind his cut-out paintings. They contain the traditional values of artistic control, and sue-' ceed or fail on those terms. Here this is even more so than with his earlier works on paper, which had the shapes painted in with sharp clarity so that each image was separated by the ground of the blank white paper. Now the distinctions between the shapes are more blurred. The emphasis is on painted lines and forms rather than on flat shapes, and there are small patches or fields of colour that join the signs and complicated motifs together. Meanings between the images are implied by the marks connect-

ing them up. There is no isolation, rather a suggested network of cross-references and relationships within each work. In the past, Mr Killeen claimed his titles were just an arbitrary means of separating one work from another. Some of the titles in this show specifically refer to the ‘particular images used, and where they are positioned on the drawing. One example is “About drawing a woman at the centre.” which has an emblematic drawing of a woman in its middle, with corset-shapes and references to helmeted knights in armour, around it. These are the loosest, most gestural drawings we have seen from Killeen. Some, using black or just two colours, are very austere. They have a pictographic quality, and seem improvised on the spot, and also somewhat rushed. The images and titles here show a preoccupation with language, seimiotics, and cultural mores, and have less interest in visual qualities than the “cut-out” works. They lack polish. Although done after the bigger paintings these seem more conceptural in nature, driven by ideas rather than formal concerns. This is an interesting exhibition of Mr Killeen’s drawings, although it is mixed in quality. Some of the sloppier ones look unfinished and pretentious com-

pared to the more overworked and complex works. If you are interested in experimental paintings that are testing out ideas rather than just recombining visual qualities, try’ to get along to this show.