Two Dogs Art Space
Akashi – Japan
Has great pleasure in presenting an
internet exhibition during
this Covid -19 Period
Delay
Thomas Hoareau - Laundry Day 2017,
pastel on paper, 84 cm h x 60 cm w
Image courtesy of the artist
an exhibition that displays
The influence of delay within the
artist’s studio praxis in portraying characteristics of figuration
by
Six Western Australian artists
John Cullinane, Thomas Hoareau, Michael
Doherty
Kevin Robertson, Caspar Fairhall, Peter
Davidson
This group of artists which includes the
current writer has a history in either painting or drawing features of the
human figure. Whether the representation is full/partial or a formal portrait isn’t
an issue what is important is the commitment to attaining the highest form of
studio praxis in creating figurative imagery.
An important underlying principle
underpinning these artists’ imagery is the concept of artistic delay. Put
simply, the influence of delay refers to the space within studio praxis between
when the artists apply the first traces of oil or drawn marks onto canvas/paper
or any other chosen material through the process till when the final mark is
applied and the image is considered resolved.
A good and parallel example of delay and
its influence is playing out within contemporary society right now as we see
how countries are racing to achieve a vaccine against the Covid-19 virus. There
is an inevitable process of delay from the initial research through trials
until approval of the final vaccine for human use. This process cannot be
hurried, revealing how crucial the influence of delay is in within the
community at large.
It is to be hoped that this exhibition
provides a small window onto the ongoing story of a very idiosyncratic,
accomplished and interesting sample of Western Australia figurative art. It’s
an exhibition that seems to have been delayed in substantive form in recent
times, perhaps because of the current societal memory within that state.
Peter Davidson
Thomas Hoareau - Shopping Trolley 2017,
pastel on paper, 60 cm h x 84 cm w
Image courtesy of the artist
Yes Peter one could
argue the whole of the 21st century so far had been marked by delay. In fact
that we l currently live in the Age of Delay. Now laundry day that can be put
everything on delay. But delay can also have a certain kind of beauty. The
beauty of delay. That even the richest have to wait because time does not
discriminate. Seize the Day.
Thomas Hoareau
John Cullinane - Black Sofa 2020
Acrylic on
board, 23 cm h x 32 cm w
Image courtesy of the artist
Black Sofa
was painted in lockdown here in Perth using acrylics so I didn’t have to live
with the fumes of turps associated with oil paints.
John Cullinane - Self-Portrait 2020
Charcoal and chalk on paper, 36 cm h 28 cm w
Image courtesy of the artist
I usually
do a self portrait every year to see myself
getting older. This keeps one grounded to reality if an artist chooses to use
the imagination as their primary resource and doesn’t have the funds to use
models.
Michael Doherty “Return from the Sea” 2020
oil on canvas, 51 cm h x 71 cm w
Michael Doherty – “Mona Corona” 2020
oil on wood panel 24 cm h x 20 cm w
Image courtesy of the artist
In a
version of the Mona Lisa, called Mona Corona, I explore the time between the European
‘Plague’ of 1520 and the Pandemic of 2020. The Mona Lisa of course ended its
journey at the Louvre which was closed due the Modern Pandemic, a time delay of
500 years.
The
“Return from the Sea” is a painting from fragments of memory. I recall the dark
imagery of Charles Dickens ‘David Copperfield’ seen in grade 2, Primary School
and its Prisoner ‘Hulks’ reading Bram Stokers ‘Dracula’ and a distant Uncle
Nicholas Power a sea Captain out of Waterford, Ireland. He mysteriously
disappeared off the coast of South Australia, steering the vessel ‘Madcap’ said there was a mutiny and he was thrown to the sharks, others he fell through
the hold, breaking his neck. The painting is for those who never returned to
family and the Ghosts of Memory.
Michael Doherty
Kevin Robertson, self-portrait (detail).
Pencil on paper, 25 x 25 cm. 2020
Kevin Robertson, Multi-view self-portrait, bathroom mirror 2019
oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm
Image courtesy of the artist
I noticed that my bathroom mirror,
including the beveled edges of the mirror, divide my image into fragments. This
rather neatly solved a recent obsession of presenting several views of things
in my paintings. I made this self-portrait by observing this fragmented image.
Each fragment has its own mood, which takes the painting out of a perceptual
experiment into a psychological realm. Each self is different in some way and
not reconcilable with the other. We can normally only “sit” in one experience
of self at a time, but in this painting, various selves are revealed
simultaneously.
The bath is usually the most private, relaxing, retreat imaginable. At some point I decided to bring this experience into the painting domain. The process would start when the house was empty. Filling the bath, mixing the paints and sticking a small mirror onto a slat of wood over the water became my new daily routine and my work space. I began to think of having a bath as going to work. Sliding into the water was difficult, as there were so many brushes, paints and jars, which I could potentially upset. I would work for a few hours each day then carefully disassemble the whole set up.
Kevin Robertson
