‘Works on Paper’

Press, 12 August 1985, Page 20

‘Works on Paper’

“Works on Paper,” at the James Paul Gallery, until August 16. Reviewed by John Hurrell.

Twenty works by seven artists are displayed in this, the third exhibition at the James Paul Gallery. In spite of the rather pedestrian title of the show, the works are varied and include two photographs and two constructions which deceptively look as if they were made from black polythene. The exhibition is very mixed in quality. Some of the drawings and watercolours are inept and should not be on public display. They are just pinned on the walls but even framing would not help them. The most conspicious works are two constructions by Graham McFelin made of folded, torn, and cut paper. They have been painted with black enamel and sprayed in parts with white to accentuate the tumbling rhythms of the stapled paper. These confident works are the highlight of the exhibition.

Grant Lingard’s piece of five vertical cardboard strips is far more subtle. Using pins and thinly applied white paint with pro-

jecting pieces of card, Mr Lingard has created tensions between real and suggested shadows, flat and curved planes, and projecting edges and flat surfaces. The work is too understated, however, with the five strips working as separate units rather than as a single compositional entity. Mark Rastrick’s drawings project a grim, mischievous humour. One shows a man being splattered with gore squirting out of a tabloid he is reading. Another depicts a bleary-eyed man who has multi-coloured psychedelic acne growing over his upper lip. These works need more of a tonal range to give the images richness and spatial depth.

The other four artists present works which are hampered by the ordinariness of their subject matter, and their methods of representation.

Figure and tree drawings, and photographs of friends, should not be displayed outside art schools unless they bear particularly unusual qualities. They at least should display competence and some of these do not.

Martin Whitworth .shows an elegant page of traditional figure drawings, but

they are academic studies. Their delicacy of line is accentuated by the clumsiness of Tiffany Thornly’s nearby figure studies and Linda James’s tree drawings which are on adjacent walls. Dave Mann’s photographs are technically competent; his “Garystill” has a silhouetee enigmaticly overlapping with traces of a figure, on a bamboo screen.

Two new rooms have been added to the gallery which now seems to be perfect for installation works.

I hope the gallery staff will set standards in future exhibitions that are higher than this one, and seek out shows that are thoroughly thought over and unified as artistic statements.