Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, until 8 March 2008

© Alex Dunn

THIS SECOND exhibition since the reopening of Eden Court sees a natural pairing of the work of Steven Mckenzie and Alex Dunn, who have exhibited together previously at An Tuireann on Skye. The work of both artists gives the viewer plenty to contemplate in relation to perception, how we relate to and interpret works of art.

Although highly technical in approach, this is never at the expense of deeper engagement with the complexity of the two dimensional surface. What is so interesting about this show is the way in which what we see or think we see is consistently challenged. It is a satisfyingly intellectual proposition with a strangely potent emotional twist.

This is particularly true of Dunn’s works on paper using pencil, pen and ink. The simplicity of the materials and formal qualities of tone, composition and geometry are incredibly moving in a way that is so unexpected. The more you look into the fine lines and construction of the work the more emotionally absorbed you become.

‘This Gated Eden’ is a great example with its highly angular perspective, revealing only the suggestion of an entrance or escape held in the distance of the frame. It seems as much a poignant comment on life as a piece of draughtsmanship, a white shaft of an ideal forever beyond our grasp.

Although Dunn’s work is described as the epitome of “control and restraint” it is often within such a state of being that human emotion becomes incredibly focused. For me there is almost a religious quality to the fastidiousness of the construction, it is never about the surface lines or text but what lies beneath, within and between those lines.

A work like “Grey Drawing Forty Eight” with its small patch of light and “Thou shalt have no other God before me”, emerging out of a dark shaded ground, expresses this kind of focus through dark and light but also in the concentration of each pencil mark. With total absence of colour and formal artistic elements paired down, there is something deeply soulful about these works that is part of their essential architecture.

The pen drawing “Flock”, configured in overlapping lines and squares, merges natural organic movement with man-made structure. This technical approach is refined even further in a piece like “Numbering the Days, 9 July to 6 August 2006″ where variations of line linked to an individual timeline of human experience reveal themselves in “variations (like) a fingerprint or wood grain”.

These are works which invite close inspection and a high degree of concentration on the part of the viewer. They are not easy to look at, but then art should not always be easy on the eye or the conscience. There is also the inescapable sentiment which binds the whole structure together exemplified in a work like “Grey Drawing Forty”. With tiny scattered words “You too will die” piling below and emanating from the defined square space above which reads like a representation of Alpha and Omega, beginning and end.

The abstract element in Dunn’s work reminds me of the ironic way in which perceived realism can often obscure “truth” or meaning in art. Whilst we often consider realism to be truthful and “traditional”, especially in terms of painting (or in modern terms the idea that the camera doesn’t lie), non-representational means are an ancient tradition in terms of human expression.

Since the Renaissance a man-centred world view has defined the visual in terms of absolute perspective. Modern abstraction therefore can be seen as a kind of return to an ultimate creative source which may be within or without. This is the religious focus (though not in an orthodox way) in Dunn’s work and (for me at least) the function of abstraction in his practice. The fact that here abstraction is coupled with the draughtsmanship of an engineer or architect, makes for a fascinating and somewhat ironic dialogue.

Dunn’s wooden constructions are also on display as part of the exhibition with contrasting inner and outer sections of natural wood grain and colour of timber. Based in Strathpeffer, where he is also part owner and designer of Ardival Harps, the artist moved from Glasgow to the Highlands as a child. Dunn featured last year on Axis Open Frequency, a curated online programme of contemporary art where Steven Mckenzie also featured as guest curator. Formerly programme co-ordinator and curator for An Tuireann, Steven Mckenzie’s approach to the art of painting is fascinating and very aware in terms of the way in which visual images are consumed and presented.

Challenging “assumptions about photography, portraiture, realism and our vision” Mckenzie’s work is equally matched to Dunn’s obsessive and essential drawing style. Like a treatise on the act of seeing, Mckenzie’s work hinges on the idea of interpretation. His photorealist style of portraiture rendered in black and white acrylic questions our perception of truth in an image.

Hand painted images, so closely resembling photographs that you are forced to look again, are direct and confrontational. They are by no means airbrushed to perfection in the sense of human representation, something we have become accustomed to in advertising and other print media. His “Large Portraits 2000-2004″ are arresting in their honesty, life lived on the faces the artist chooses to depict. These are ordinary people we feel, not art patrons or a social elite associated with the traditional patronage of the genre.

In his large 2007 (Acrylic on Canvas) diptych the face of a man in partial view black and white is counterbalanced by a smaller pink panel which asks the viewer; “Father? Murderer? Yodeller?” What do we as viewers assume about the person we see in the painting based on our background, life experience and prejudice? The half head shot composition pays homage to the photographic snapshot and also to our visual and ideological field of reference manifest in social first impressions. It is a provocative piece of work about the lies we create just by looking.

Mckenzie’s ‘Coloured Portraits’ (Acrylic on paper) also consider our “unit of reference (for visual) perception” in a digital age. Each work, ‘Orange (Pixel 1)’, ‘Pale Green (Pixel 8)’, ‘Pink (Pixel 6)’ and ‘Pale Yellow (Pixel 3)’, presents a fragment of individual identity located in a field of one colour utilised as a formal device in the composition. We are only given part of a face rather than the whole picture or portrait and a single colour out of a potential myriad. Colour is used as a field of reference in itself framing and concealing the identity of each human face in a sequence of anti-portraits.

A series of drawings with Japanese ink on Braille paper convey with beautiful economy the personality of each sitter, the top layer to a written subtext which we cannot read. Barred from touch by the glass and frame (the artifice of presentation between the viewer and the work), the presence of the Braille paper suggests layers of meaning which we are denied physical access to. (14) Tim Ethel, (9) Julian Rosefelt and (7) Steven Mckenzie are wonderful examples of clean line to describe human features, which sit somewhere between portraiture and caricature.

Reference to eastern technique, capturing the essence of something with a few bold lines through the traditional medium, creates a complex image of perception. Meaning is not just passive in the act of seeing but implicit and also fluid in the choice of paper, ink, the chosen method of representation and in the relationship of these elements to the human subject. There are no comforting absolutes or certainties in what is viewed, just compelling explorations for both the eye and the mind.

With the word Gallery now displayed on the sign outside, it remains to be seen how representation of Visual Arts will be developed as part of the new Eden Court. Although not purpose built as a gallery the refurbished building is certainly ripe with possibilities for exhibiting all kinds of work in a variety of spaces. So far Blink Space between the main theatre and the Bishop’s Palace and the upstairs theatre foyers have been the main spaces to view work, in addition to the 6 commissioned artworks that are part of the newly refurbished building.

The development of a range of spaces providing access and lead in to contemporary Visual Arts is a much needed addition to our city’s cultural landscape and in this respect Eden Court has a potentially significant role to play. This latest exhibition curated by Sue Pirnie, in addition to the commissioned artworks and opening show which lead into those works, suggests a more meaningful relationship between Visual Arts and Eden Court than decorating the foyers. The quality of the work on display and its challenging content are an important part of this dynamic.

© Georgina Coburn, 2008

Links

• Steven Mckenzie
• Alex Dunn
• Eden Court Theatre