Eden Court Theatre, Inverness, until 15 June

Mark Lomax: "Map Reading For Beginners (Missing In Aston)" mixed media.

THE HNC Contemporary Art Practice Here and Now exhibition is a two part show: Part I by tutors of Inverness College’s Art and Design course followed mid-month by Part 2, an exhibition by students of the college (16-26 June). The showcase of work currently on exhibition by Inverness College tutors reveals a varied and interesting range of work throughout the first two floors of the Eden Court Theatre foyers, including painting, sculpture, mixed media, printmaking and textiles.

Brian MacBeath has contributed a variety of work to the exhibition including oils on canvas, monoprints and lithography demonstrating his characteristic engagement with resonant colour and abstract form. The Return (Oil on canvas) is a good example, with an overlap of organic and geometric shapes allowing layers of paint handling to emerge in a burst of aqua, purple, yellow, orange and green.

This layered technique is also clearly evident in the printmaker’s art, the interplay of saturated colour, line and form creating a harmonious balance of composition in works such as Untitled (Monoprint) and Delta. Overall McBeath’s work possesses an attitude of quiet repose even in its most vibrant hues, a result of the strong formal design element of his compositions.

Rosie Newman’s sculpture The Ladder Tree is a delightfully surreal work which sits particularly well beneath the atrium of natural light, juxtaposed with the grey concrete and slate of the architecture.

The upturned builder’s ladder defies both viewer expectation and gravity in a fusion of man-made and organic elements. Fused to each angular leg, tree branches meander upwards extending the line of the work into the air in a wonderfully aspirational way. The sawn off tips of branches accented with pink bud like paint allows the imagination of the viewer to blossom.

Also on display by the artist are a series of acrylic and mixed media works. Soldier’s Joy (Gloss, acrylic, canvas on gauze) displays a decorative treatment of colour, pattern and line defining the sculpted torso in a manner reminiscent of Gustav Klimt. The soft palette of green orange, blue and pink together with delicate layers of abstract patination and materials interpret the essentially masculine subject in an interesting and unexpected way.

Matt Sillars has contributed a series of four photographs exhibited previously as part of the Scottish Photographer’s show at Inchmore Gallery in 2008. Collectively titled The Vanity of Interruption, these are beautifully observed life studies exploring the “cycle of growth, decay, regeneration” and the relationship between human beings and the natural world.

Subtlety of colour, line and balance of form within these compositions are part of their inherent quality and it is disappointing not to see the two largest images. The Madness of Civilisation occupies a more central position above the main staircase with enough breathing space around them for the viewer to fully appreciate them.

A series of Abstract Expressionist works by Mathew Jones explore the dynamics of paint handling in oils. There is a darker current running through this work both in terms of the artist’s choice of palette and rhythm of brush work. One of the largest works; Untitled (second to the left) in dominant black, ultramarine, umber and sienna, utilises flat blocks of concrete form and colour to unify the composition, overlapping sections and gestural marks to create a feeling of movement.

While some of the paint handling feels laden in sections, smaller works on display allow the under-painting, pure energy of brushwork and pigment to emerge to a greater degree. In the absence of subject matter the need for balance between the plastic elements of the painted surface becomes heightened and this is one of the greatest challenges for any artist. Investigation of these dynamics is part of the craft of painting and a vital line of ongoing enquiry for the artist.

Maggie Kinghorn’s works in mixed media, printmaking and textiles display an exploration of pattern and design together with an intriguing use of found materials. Safe Haven (Relief print) is a good example with a strong recognition of positive and negative space and rhythmic marks overlaid on a ground of newsprint.

Time For… reveals an intriguing stimulus of found material prompted by the base text which is revealed to the viewer in fragments. Words like “opportunity” and “quality” emerge from behind the printed design and the slogan “It’s Time for a Clear New World” add to the multilayered quality of the work both in terms of ideas and technique. Collage and stitching are integral to the construction of mixed media works such as Shift In Direction, a combination of newsprint, photographic print and fabric.

Robyn Kennedy’s large scale acrylic and mixed media work on canvas, Culloden Moor, is a richly textural and evocative piece of work. Burnished heather browns, white and accents of black unite sky and land in a sweeping abstract reinterpretation of the infamous moorland. Movement in the composition is achieved by blocks of shifting tonality creating a windswept desolate atmosphere. The delicacy of textures in this work, together with its subtle tonality balances perfectly the pattern of strong interlocking forms which hold the composition together.

Mark Lomax has created a series of finely wrought, exquisitely intricate mixed media pieces exploring the concept of boundaries. Utilising altered maps as a ground the artist has explored the concept of identity and our connections to place based on borders of pictorial representation. The technique of collaged surfaces, drawn, overlaid and gouged, carves out a new territory, a mindscape which defies the familiar charting of the world around us and our place within it.

No Boundaries – The Space That Remains When All Sense Of Belonging Fades with its torn and collaged sections, blackened boundaries of smeared ink and softly faded map’s palette creates a sense of drifting borders of uncertainty. The information we normally use to orientate ourselves eludes us and in its place the abstract arrangement of drawn marks, form and colour illuminates this loss of identification and certainty.

On an intellectual and aesthetic level these are satisfying, thought-provoking works with the drawn mark a consistent and unifying human element within the work. No Boundaries – The Apparently Arbitrary Arrangement of People, Place and Phrases almost reads as low relief sculpture with its layers of plaster, collage and pigment. It is incredibly tactile in a beautifully understated way, the process of conception and formation of the image evidenced in every layered mark.

Although Eden Court is a challenging environment to hang work due to an outmoded hanging system and the open nature of the outer theatre foyers, the show is a great opportunity for raising public awareness about the creative activity by staff and students at the city’s Midmills campus and a valuable experience for students in terms of presenting an exhibition in a public space.

An exhibition of work by NQ Portfolio Art & Design students of Inverness College is also on display this month at Midmills, Crown Avenue, Inverness, from 3-12 June.

© Georgina Coburn, 2009

Links

• Eden Court Theatre
• Inverness College Art & Design