Phil Hale

 

American born painter/illustrator Phil Hale's list of accomplishments includes major works for Stephen King, Playboy, and Spectrum, in addition to a 2008 commission to paint a portrait of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Characterised by cyclical periods of intense activity followed by relative obscurity, the formal qualities of Hale's work typify a commitment to paint's potential in description of the human form; brush strokes clearly visible, openly acknowledging the materiality of his chosen medium. Depictions of violence - often self-inflicted - make transgressive fiction a regular feature of Hale's paintings, which feature an enviable command of light's relationship to form, including the sharp contrast acheived through the implementation of chiaroscuro. Careful selection of point of focus effortlessly establish a visual hierarchy, inviting prolonged contemplation of each work's self-contained narrative. Hale's paintings are fractured plots offering vague descriptions of apparent significance. Where consequence is shown the inciting act is largely absent, and vice-versa, resulting in ambiguous snapshots  requiring active engagement on behalf of the viewer. Hale explores the limitless potential found in a single moment, the transformative power of choice, an inevitability punctuated by consequence, relentlessly reconfiguring an individual's perspective.

A brief review of Hale's book Urge Ourselves Under can be found here, and a pretty comprehensive interview here.

Shaun Huston: Filming Postbourgeois Suburbia: Office Space and the New American Suburb

Huston's appraisal of Post-bourgeois suburban America as a hyper-rationalised adaptation of the familiar Post WWII embodiment of detached homes framed by picket fences perched atop spacious tracts of land references popular fiction in a bid to unravel the new polymorphous landscape. The text's relevance to Growth cannot be overstated, concerned as it is with the proliferation of cultural stereotypes in service to corporatist ideology.

The original text can be found here.

Jeremy Geddes

The White Cosmonaut, Oil on Board, 2009

New Zealand born artist Jeremy Geddes uses oil paint to produce highly detailed imagery, most of which is humming with dystopian, verging on post-apocalyptic undertones. Geddes’ work at times reads like transgressive fiction, its subjects engaged in transcendence that is only ever achieved by way of extreme measures, from self-harm (both blatant and reluctant) right through to awe-inspiring violations of Newtonian physics. Each work is meticulously rendered beginning with a series of small studies, eventually becoming the final sketch, which is then tonally mapped using ink. Oils are then introduced, in a broad sweep of all forms, before the work is reconciled by way of glazes, which where necessary modify colour relationships, exaggerate atmospheric depth, and unify disparate imagery.

The Kyoto Protocol, Oil on Canvas,  2007

Geddes’ earlier work, often bathed in urinary yellow-verging-on-green light is in stark contrast to the cool blue hues that dominate later works. The artist’s decision to strive for the technical ability that would facilitate faithful representations of light’s relationship to form has resulted in work that almost denies evidence of the brush’s presence. Consequently, these works serve as testament to a mastery of medium, in addition to being rich in complex, ambiguous narrative. This in no way amounts to a claim of inferiority concerning work preceding these technical marvels. The style and hues of Geddes’ early work ‘betray’ the images as oil paintings, adding a textural element, and providing insight as to how they were produced. It is my intent to produce images in acrylic paint, which faithfully represent light’s relationship to form, whilst being recognisable as paintings, simultaneously celebrating the medium, and creating rich, complex narratives informed by highly conceptual thinking.

Some interesting interviews can be found here, and here.

The Philosophical Quest of a Cancer Cell: Redefining Existentialism by Ellora Sen

Sen's sympathetic account of the pathophysiology of carcinoma draws on key texts from t Existentialist philosophy to develop an understanding of the cancer cell's preoccupation with that which could be termed an ideological rebellion relative to genetic function characterised as within normal range. In so far as it informs the semester's work it provides a view of cancer as sentient, acting of its own volition, oppositional to the environment responsible for its existence.

The original text can be found here.

Artist Speak: Tamara Winikoff (NAVA)

This week's presentation provided valuable insight concerning NAVA's myriad initiatives, including industry advice, workshops, and advocacy. Tamara Winikoff's advice regarding career sustainability, whilst relevant, was undermined by time constraints. However, once the new NAVA website launches next month access to this and more is as easy as membership.

Justin Mortimer

Colony, 2010
Oil on panel, 100 x 70cm 

Haftling, 2010
Oil on Canvas, 230 x 184cm

 British painter Justin Mortimer (b. 1970) renders his own interpretation of the human condition in oils, characterized by a blend of photorealism and painterly strokes. Anachronistic in tone, Mortimer’s work combines imagery sourced from a range of disparate sources to arrive at a unique aesthetic, which often explores the dividing line between ‘us’ and ‘them’, juxtaposing the idyllic and the atrocious to create a dynamic uneasiness. Mortimer’s palette includes but is not necessarily limited to hues cooled by their complimentary, and exemplifies an eye adept at witnessing light’s relationship to form, including its absence resulting in chiaroscuro reminiscent of painters such as Dutch Master, Rembrandt. Mortimer’s paintings, however, attempt to deny the persistence of a singular historical narrative, to transcend the linear insistence of time in order to demolish the arbitrary geographical, and temporal demarcations ubiquitous with History’s limited gaze. Never before in human history have we been able to gaze so far across space and time to discover a subjectivity, once quashed by geographical, and ideological myopia, now liberated, if not at times confused, by a rhizomatic view of reality. Thus, there is little if any shock in learning Mortimer’s imagery is often sourced by that most omnipresent of infrastructures, the internet. A virtual landscape with no perceivable horizon, receding by the nanosecond, provides no shortage of narrative fodder, and as our worldview bloats it becomes apparent there is no ‘them’, if ever there was, there is only ‘us’ and we are each other’s responsibility. 

Family Dollar, 2009
Oil on Panel, 80 x 60cm

David Trigg's critical appraisal of Mortimer's work is well worth repeated examination, as is the wealth of information contained here.

Note: Mortimer's anachronistic compositions resonate with my own practice aims; collapsing notions of space and time in an attempt to deprive the audience of a comfortable space, inciting critical engagement with the imagery confronting them.