Castle Gallery, Inverness, until 27 September 2008

Beach Boy by Joe Davie

THIS SOLO exhibition of paintings, prints and mixed media works by Fife based artist Joe Davie, entitled mouth-piece, is a fascinating show. Deliberation and spontaneity carry equal weight in Davie’s work, which is characterised in thematic terms by a dynamic of opposites.

The human figure is central to his work in all its inherent ambiguity and uncertainty. This is challenging work which presents the viewer with no easy answers. It is an art of questions and contradiction, an insightful exploration of the human condition and modernity. Cultures and ideas meet without resolution in a way that is as curious, playful and thought provoking as the creative process driving it.

Davie’s personal iconography, symbolic figures of soldier, pilgrim, shopper or protagonist are presented in compositions with a strong contemporary feel. Use of overlap, multilayered mixed media and texture add spatial depth, with colour and form superbly balanced. ‘Blue Cross’ and ‘Faith and Apostasy’ are excellent examples. Where text is present it is often singular or placed at the very edge of a work. Like the interaction between figures there is merely a “whiff of narrative”.

Even though there are elements of illustrative technique present, there is nothing literal in Davie’s work, which is what makes it so compelling, complex and utterly original. The work is open to interpretation and engages the imagination. Juxtaposition of the familiar and the unknown, civilised and primitive, domestic and exotic give the work a surreal and mysterious quality. Although Davie draws on a variety of sources from design catalogues, popular culture, tribal and expressionist art his vision is uniquely his own.

The artist cleverly uses the language of design not for consumption but for interrogation, as part of the creative process, an instrument of Faith. The idea of interior design is not just manifest in the stencilled silhouette of light fittings or furniture; it is self reflexive and speaks of our own interior design as human beings, our aspirations and how we define who we are.

There is an unexpected sense of grand design in the familiarity of Davie’s domestic interiors. The scale of the work varies from large scale paintings to smaller works on an intimate scale, there is however a strong sense of continuity in the artist’s vision throughout.

‘Mouth piece’ (Handcoloured Etching) depicts a finely detailed grey interior space with remnants of technology adorning the walls. The setting of the subject presents the central figure masked in tribal dress as an image of primitivism in the context of modernity. The scale of the image is intimate which adds to its psychological weight, as always the figure is rendered with care. The artist chooses his mark; here etching gives the image its delicacy. The way in which “themes old and new…occur, intervene and clash” is beautifully subdued and wonderfully subtle. Davie actively demonstrates that a whisper is every bit as potent and engaging as a shout in visual terms.

‘Camouflage Head’ (Watercolour) illustrates the way that design and accident combine forces in Davie’s work. The mustard yellow ground of bled watercolour becomes a design formalised into the camouflage pattern of skin, hair and clothing. This is not just design as decoration or simply an exploration of technique but a psychological and symbolic act.

Layers of camouflage in this work seem to operate like a series of screens. The top of the composition splits the ground in a stage-like way and merges this yellow ground with the masked eyes of the head. Identity becomes ambiguous rather than fixed, an observation of the human condition, a universal pattern of hidden behaviour.

‘Homo-Logo-Modern Fetish Figure’ (Hand Coloured Copperplate Etching) is an intriguing piece of work. The base of the composition presents the palette as a barcode with the entire body tattooed in a pattern of symbols and objects drawn from modern and tribal imagery. Intricacy and branding are part of the contradiction in contemplative shades of blue and purple. The eye is lead into the work by design and lingers there, lost in the profusion of signs and symbols that form the whole body.

‘Hymn To Confusion’ (Mixed Media) is undoubtedly the darkest work in the show, what feels like a post apocalyptic scene under a turbulent grey, black and turquoise sky. The broad, expressive brush work overhead and barbed wire-like detail in the foreground are contrasted with areas of delicate wash, bled and scratched sections of paintwork. The scene is an accumulative act, technically and spiritually, populated by a lone figure in combat trousers and tribal headdress.

There is a sense of foreboding here, like an oncoming storm. The painterly technique recalls Abstract Expressionism but as always in Davie’s work there is more going on than just the freedom of individual expression. The approach is considered, a fusion of illustrative and expressive techniques.

Philip Guston’s comment that “painting is impure. It is the adjustment of impurities which forces continuity” seems particularly apt when viewing Davie’s work. The artist is in a constant process of refinement of his craft, and like Guston’s work, the human figure an agent of social commentary. “We are image-makers and image-ridden” (Guston) is an observation made by both artists.

Joe Davie’s latest exhibition presents a large and substantial body of work, and there are many pieces that beg further investigation including; ‘Under Arm Tig’, ‘Worship’, ‘The Right Word’ ( Acrylic, Ink and Gouche), ‘Plague Magazine Cover – October’ (Watercolour) and the large scale painting ‘Protagonist (Green)’ (Mixed Media).

The hanging of the show is well balanced in terms of colour and theme, leading the viewer through the exhibition on both floors and creating an interesting dialogue between works. In an age of consumerism Davie turns visual language in on itself, presenting an alternative to the empty static of the television screen that appears as a recurrent motif in his work. There is always more to be seen in Davie’s work within its design. Quietly powerful, these are satisfying multilayered works both in terms of technique and ideas, full of irony, humour and compassion.

© Georgina Coburn, 2008

Links

• Castle Gallery
• Joe Davie