Lazarides Rathbone exhibited a collection of paintings by some of the most exciting contemporary artists today. The selection, carefully chosen by gallery owner Steve Lazarides, is a diverse assortment that brings together both established and emerging artists, hanging them side-by-side in equal magnanimity. Works by seven artists are spread through three rooms, creating a visually fluctuating atmosphere, prompting thought and demanding attention with every step.
Miaz Brothers
In the first room, two paintings by the Miaz Brothers (Roberto and Ronato Miaz) hang to the right of a large window, their pairing beside each other a reflection of the artists’ on-going collaboration through work and life. The pair decided to cultivate their vision by exposing themselves to various disciplines and cultures, which laid the foundations for their current work. It is through exploration of the world and themselves that they began to condense all their experiences into a single project, continually asking questions concerning the concept of human existence. The paintings on show are taken from their Antimatter series – including two more in the back room – which is a reflection of this philosophical approach to art, dealing with the concept of ‘appearance’ and ‘disappearance’. The entire image is blurred, as if a veil of fog has been draped across the canvas – and it is left to the viewer to complete the image. The colours are muted, blending through the obscurity into a murky hue of dark browns, greens and blues, which evoke a feeling of dulled emotion and mystery. It is only by the sudden offset of a white shirt or flesh coloured ovals that you can begin to see a human figure. By keeping these figures cloaked in ambiguity, viewers are left with a sense of vagueness and confusion; and yet, as they attempt to finalize these paintings through careful scrutiny, the Miaz Brothers have created art that is both in the present and of the future, embodying an array of possibilities.
Bret Amory, ‘Waiting’
Opposite, Brett Amory’s oil painting ‘Waiting’ evokes a feeling of disconnection; a lone figure stands adrift, the geometrically defined background adding a depth and dimension through the use of shifting tones of purple to brown, blue to white. The figure’s head is bent to the left as his body hangs in abstract confusion, his face bearing a distorted expression of panic, or fear, or anxiety. Despite the irregular palette choice, the painting assembles in a smooth continuum of colour rather, the arbitrary connections a possible reflection of the transient temporality that pervades our existence.
BORF, Rothko’s Modern Life
In stark contrast, to the right of the Miaz Brothers’ works hang two paintings by BORF. Infamous for his politically allegorical graffiti, his canvases also provide a critical narrative on society and its norms, which he persuasively questions with sharp wit. Each canvas is painted with a block base colour and sprayed with graffiti, which is reworked and obscured by bold rectangular forms. What lies beneath these figures is scarcely visible; it is only where the paint has been spread thinly, or deliberately left smaller to show frantic black lines and scrawls underneath, that you can decipher what’s hidden. But perhaps, you’re supposed to. Numbered variations upon his ‘Rothko’s Modern Life’ series, the geometric blocks of colour appear fitting tributes to the Abstract Expressionist, while the subtle infusion of modern mediums makes BORF’s paintings a musing upon what Rothko might have done were he around today.
Adopting a similar political approach is L.A. based Sandow Birk, whose work is heavily influenced by modern day society, approaching subjects like inner city violence, travel, prisons, surfing and skateboarding. For this exhibition, two particularly affecting works, ‘Soldier’ and ‘Grunt’, have been specially selected from his series The Depratives of War. The palimpsestic nature of these woodblock prints is conveyed through the remarkable attention to detail. Inspired by Jacques Callot’s 17th century etchings. ‘The Misery of War’, which in turn were the inspiration for Goya’s 19th century masterpiece, ‘The Disasters of War’. By adopting classical tones and combining contemporary techniques with historical aesthetic and meaning, Birk has created work that re-contextualises historical fact with artistic fiction. Despite its historical infusion, it nevertheless remains accessible to modern viewers since the need for social justice is an eternally human – rather than simply historical – concern.
Frank Laws, ‘Robbery 1’
Frank Laws’ bold, hyper-realistic urban paintings focus on the architectural detail and depth of council estates amongst other high-rise residential buildings. Two paintings hang in room two, which focus on the painting of subtle clues to expose the identities of the omitted presence of the inhabitants within each building. Appropriately titled ‘Robbery’, all but one window has been bricked over, ‘robbing’ the rest of the inhabitants of light and life. A red curtain hangs over the unobstructed windows, burning a glow of amber onto the surrounding brick, a colour suitably chosen since it is generally associated with strength, wealth, and power. Perhaps there a political critique lies hidden in Laws’ work; the ‘window tax’ was once an architectural and social force in England, France, and Scotland, and in order to avoid paying, inhabitants would brick up windows in their houses. By allowing one window aflame with a vibrate red, is Laws unearthing the past to question the extent to which people are now willing – or obligated – to live without an otherwise essential part of life, emphasizing the capitalist importance of money within today’s society? The anonymity of urban living is nevertheless emphasized through Laws’ intricate attention to detail and elusive clues, meaning viewers are confronted with a visual stimulus from which they are encouraged to create their own stories.
Bill Dunlap, ‘Crucifixion’
Surrounding Frank Laws, Bill Dunlap exhibits four works from his Black Paintings series, a collection of volatile, semi-expressionist figures set against a black, void-like background. His unconventional technique of painting in squares creates distorted but wholesome, abstract yet defiant characters, while the use of bold, haphazard, twisted lashings of colour within each square evokes an aggressive collection of paintings that demand and seize your attention. Within each piece, a subject is deconstructed, melting in the violent strokes of colour, only to solidifying and reconstruct itself against the dark canvas. Various pieces evoke symbolic references to religion; ‘Crucifixion’, as the title suggests, depicts a figure with their arms outwards. But rather than appearing as a wholesome, divine figure, the subject is fragmented, almost monstrous, smeared to life by vibrant reds and whites, a yellow halo the only obvious token of holiness. Another piece, ‘Crawl’, shows a submissive woman on her knees before a mysterious, formless figure that looms over her. Whether or not this simply an allusion to sexual desires, or is something more, something suggestive of the female position in the world, painted out of criticism, observation, or even praise, is left uncertain by the power of the painting’s abstraction.
Katrin Fidriks
Fusing oriental calligraphic designs with the seemingly effortless unpredictability of Abstract Expressionism, Katrin Fidriks takes geometric structures and constructs colourful drippings upon large-scale canvases, presenting viewers with something more than a painting, an architectural installation. The composition of her cyclical canvases echo Damien Hirst’s kinetic wheels, although their static construction is suggestive of stagnation in society’s development and progress towards practical solutions for environmental and political issues. Elsewhere, three pillars of differing height are painted with a metallic base, as a vibrant, opaque splash intensifies as it flows in a fluid psychedelic dream from one pillar to the next. Her work filters new artistic and architectural perspectives through explosions of colour, bringing an innovative dimension to abstraction.
Collectively, Fresh Paint captures the innovative stylistic approach of some of today’s most exciting contemporary artists, exhibiting an eclectic mix of dynamic, refreshing art that is both a reflection of each artist’s personal interpretations of the world today as well as an insightful expression of thematically universal interest.
