Gail Wright, Julia Thompson

Press, 5 October 1985, Page 12

Gail Wright, Julia Thompson

“Gall and Julia.” An exhibition of works by Gail Wright and Julia Thompson at the James Paul Gallery until October 7. Reviewed by John Harrell. In this two-person show Gail Wright displays six paintings and three photographs in the main room of the James Paul Gallery and Julia Thompson has her watercolours and crayon drawings mostly in the two adjacent small rooms. Wright’s paintings are based on simple diagrams as charts taken from books or manuals. They are K inted on boards which ve single strips of wood attached to their backs which are hung over nails put in the walls. Because of the casual way the boards are presented, these works look unlike paintings or commercial signs. From the side

they do not emphasize flatness, nor do they seem object-like. They look awkward.

The disparate range of her paintings and photographs, together with two of Thompson’s works in the

same room, does not allow ■ Wright’s exhibition to be I seen as a unified body. 1 Some works are hung at ’ different heights, so the pre- ! sentation seems gimmicky ' without any underlying rationale. ' In spite of these distractions, the best work is pos- 1 sibly “Recovery Position,” where an image of a hori- ' zontally positioned figure > has been taken from a life- 1 saving resuscitation manual. ] The proximity of the paint- ■ ing to the floor is appropri- 1 cite. Another painting “Abso- ' lutely Nothing” presents the words of its title inside a 1 dotted line frame, while <

also being hung very low on the wall. Above it, in the place on the wall where one would normally expect to see a painting, is of course absolutely nothing. Julia Thompson shows more than 30 small works, painted on pad paper that has been pinned to the wail. Many of them are crammed together in one room. Most of these are poor, lacking in ideas and control of the medium. Some have a whimsical appeal and it is a shame she did not select the best halfdozen only for exhibition. These shows look hastily prepared and are inadequately presented.