Kilmorack Gallery, by Beauly, until 13 September 2008

THE ART of painting takes centre stage in Kilmorack’s latest showing of work by Eugenia Vronskaya and Nael Hanna. Anyone who appreciates the tactile quality of paint, excellent draughtsmanship or subtleties of colour will find much to enjoy in this exhibition. For me the most engaging work in any show is the result of a balance between technique and ideas, and in this respect Vronskaya’s contribution is the stronger of the two.

With the exception of his largest work in the exhibition; ‘Washed Creels, East Coast’ (Mixed media on canvas 244 x 122cm), Nael Hanna’s seascapes are strangely eclipsed by his still life works in this show. Many of the smaller landscape works fall back on familiar visual phrases; the point where two opposing forces of water meet in a white cascade of waves, the balance of land, sea and sky and a consistent palette.

Whilst stylistic hallmarks define an established artist, they can also appear formulaic. Hanna’s paint handling is undisputed; however there are times when the artist’s seascapes seem typecast. The power of nature is present in every scene and yet diminished through refined technique and repetition.

In contrast, ‘Washed Creels, East Coast’, with its eerily blue sky and immeasurable expanse of space, is brilliant and poetic. This is a piece that feels like a greater expansion of the artist’s technique and consequently the viewer’s perception expands with the work. There is a sense of struggle here, of physical engagement and build up of the painting’s surface which together with the delicacy of the creel traps in the dark foreground suggest human activity and scale. Overwhelmingly there is a feeling of elevation and peace in this work, of being drawn into the expanse of sea and sky that is spiritual in nature.

Hanna’s depiction of the Scottish coast echoes that of Joan Eardley. There is always a sense of a force greater than our own. Hanna’s compositions are an interesting dialogue between solidity of form and the ever changeable forces of wind and tide. A work like ‘Harmony of Land and Sea’ is a good example.

In ‘Rain On The Sea, Auchnithie’, use of mixed media creates variation in texture contributing to the spatial quality of the work. Fine details in the foreground are contrasted with fluid or cross hatched sweeps of impasto and accents of colour that bring the scene to life.

The still life ‘Warmth’ invests everyday objects with a striking immediacy of feeling. The emphasis on the emotive qualities of colour and brushwork make this an unexpected gem. Richly animated by vermillion, orange, cadmium and crimson emerging out of a rose tinted grey ground, the painting is infused with heartfelt energy.

A sense of humanity and real engagement with both subject and technique characterise this and ‘Still Life With Mandolin’. In this painting the treatment of the flowers is so fluid and robust that they have a presence all of their own in a subtle rainbow of colours, veiled in grey.

Eugenie Vronskaya’s latest body of work, ‘An Altar and Fruits and A Flame’, demonstrates her capacity to engage the viewer on many levels; formally, aesthetically, emotionally and psychologically. Her proficiency as a draughtswoman and skill at composition is astonishing. Illumination is at the heart of her work, investing everyday objects with a power and luminosity that never ceases to fascinate and challenge the viewer.

The fusion of beauty and unease in her work is one of its most potent qualities. ‘Still Life’, a human body bent over in a prayer position, is an excellent example, an arrangement of line and object that ironically suggests a life drawing.

The freshness and spontaneity of drawn marks are preserved in this painting, contrasting with the mask forming the head. Tilted uncomfortably, it is modelled with the precision of a Dutch master. This tension between live human body and dead object is palpable. Realism in this work is not literal, nor is it to be taken for granted. Techniques are seamlessly grafted to form the body in a dialogue of unease, a marriage between life and death that epitomises the human condition.

The play of light over the back contrasts with the composition of the body in a way that is supremely beautiful and equally disturbing. Amazingly the plausibility of the figure itself is completely maintained. Beneath the mask eyes stare out at the viewer in a gaze which is penetrating and quietly confrontational with the body pushed to the upper edge of the picture plane.

The way in which the figure evokes a psychological, emotive response is reminiscent of Kokoschka. The human stage is always present, even in a composition comprised purely of objects such as ‘Black Sheep’ or ‘Drunken Sailors’. Vronskaya turns our expectation of ‘Still Life’ completely on its head with characteristic humour, irony and skill.

‘Mid Winter’ (Oil on Board) captures perfectly the temperature of the season with a composition of empty jars. The simplicity and clarity of this work is like inhaling on the coldest of winter mornings. The crisp lines of the jars, play of light and subtlety of the artist’s palette transform the arrangement of objects into the suggestion of something far greater.

They evoke a state of mind and an attitude to the world, an act of distillation which is at the heart of all great painting. Vronskaya does not just make us look, she makes us see. The altar, threshold and everyday objects are subjects transformed by the manner of depiction and the artist’s intent. Light is not a physical presence in these works but part of their essential humanity in a perfect fusion of technique and ideas.

The formal qualities of Vronskaya’s compositions being consistently refined are richly in evidence here. ‘Dead End’, ‘Behaved Nuns’ and ‘White Wedding’ are good examples, pushing perspective and pyramid composition into emotive territory. Absolute understanding of these pictorial devices allows the artist to push them further and redefine our expectations of painting as an art form.

‘Prayer Position’, a larger scale oil on canvas, introduces stronger elements of colour in an intriguing merger of realism and abstraction. The tension between these two painterly techniques and the introduction of more dominant areas of colour are an interesting development in the artist’s work.

The abstract handling of the ground and overlap of different visual fields create a feeling of parallel realities. We are not looking at a literal pose but an attitude or state of being that has the power to transform. Like the altar works this painting is a platform for contemplation and transformation.

The acidic yellow and myriad of greys accented with crimson, umber and ochre create a feeling of struggle at the heart of this human still life. As with all of Vronskaya’s work colour is never used simply to attract the eye or in a decorative way, it is integral to the grand design, the integrity of the work and the composition as a whole.

This show is a great testimony to the art of painting and its resonance as a vital, expressive, challenging and relevant form of communication. Though many other art forms dominate the contemporary art world few actually demonstrate equality of technique and ideas that are in evidence here.

© Georgina Coburn, 2008

Links

• Kilmorack Gallery