Figure

25th May – 16th June 2007

This group of artists have been selected for their inventive interpretation of the figurative tradition. The exhibition is not concerned with portraiture in the conventional sense but how the artist interprets the subject to make a statement about their working practice. Traditionally the figure was central to religious and mythological narratives and the glorification of the individual, their status and immortalisation. It was not until the late Rembrandt self portraits that the genre freed itself from these constraints and evolved into an expressive art form that allowed total artistic freedom, and an opportunity to investigate psychological theory.

This process of working resonates through the paintings of Goya, Picasso, Manet and Matisse where the human psyche is exposed - vulnerable, passionately real and a step beyond conventional beauty and stereotype. Such notions of the figure continued to re-develop through the work of contemporary artists such as Cindy Sherman, John Currin and Peter Doig where the subject stood to represent much broader political and social commentaries. Each of the artists’ work in the exhibition stems from this progressive approach to figurative art, each very different in methodology and medium, yet together they have produced work that is inventive, unique and challenging.

Nick Archer uses photographic images of his daughter playing in the woods to consider paternal feelings and a child’s relationship to the world that envelopes her. The viewer is made more aware of this through the physical process of painting which slowly dissolves the figure into the surrounding area.

Mary Evans has made a site-specific intervention in the form of a window-scape of familiar figures that forms an interface-like membrane through which the passersby can look into the gallery and vice versa.

Mark Karasick collects old images, from turn-of-the-century ‘carte de visites’ to photographs of close relatives. These images are painted and then veiled in wax, and in part distance the viewer from the original image, acting as a visual metaphor for time and memory.

Helen Kincaid’s figurative work explores notions of fear and anxiety. She is interested in the precise moment when those feelings become a desire for and fear of oblivion. It is this breaking point, or disconnection, the moment at which ‘what is real or imagined’ starts to fracture, that creates tension and uncertainty in her work.

Richard Moon creates imaginary figures from a variety of source materials including anachronistic magazine advertisement photographs and knitting pattern images. These are then collaged together and surreal characters begin to emerge. Fairy-tale in nature, the artist juxtaposes the sinister with the humorous and reminds the viewer of stereotypes from our nostalgic, historic or fictional past.

Patricia Rorie transposes images of herself into iconic female portraits of the past to reinvent this traditional genre. Through the painting process she reconsiders the portrayal of women by male artists; the female role in society and their perceived sexuality.